


The Song Remains The Same

by HoldinOutForAHero



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Broken Families, Broken Friendships, Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Healing, Learning to Trust Again, M/M, Multi, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:09:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25852636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HoldinOutForAHero/pseuds/HoldinOutForAHero
Summary: REVAMPED AND REPOSTED- this work will now be solely a Power Rangers story.Rating may go up as this gets written and relationships will be added as I figure them outKimberly Hart has never been normal, not since she was 15 and an alien trapped in a time warp made her a superhero. After hanging up the spandex for a little while, Kim has returned to life as a Power Ranger, this time in space. And when old enemies come knocking, it may finally be time to face the ghosts of her past.
Relationships: Aisha Campbell/Rocky DeSantos, Kimberly Hart/Tommy Oliver, Trini Kwan/Jason Lee Scott
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Bad Blood

_“You were after all, brought into this world to fight”-Joypendants_

Kimberly Hart could, with an abject accuracy honed from many such occasions, say that she could always tell exactly when her life was going to go heels over head with crazy. The feeling always started just after she woke up; her bones shifted differently when she stretched and went about her morning work out. The pop in her left knee always felt different as she went through her gymnastics routines. The scars that stretched across her shoulder from when she had gone into the pit pulled in a way that felt almost like when they first happened. Living on a Galactic Council outpost ship never allowed for her to fully settle down or to let go of her anxiety but on days like this one it was as high as it had been during her high school years.

Whatever was going to happen, she wanted it to just happen already.

After finishing up her morning drills Kim works her way from the rangers private training area to the mess hall at a brisk jog. The early hours chef tips his hat to her and hands her a plate with her normal eggwhite and spinach omelette that was accompanied by a strawberry smoothie. After breakfast the former Pink Ranger lets her feet carry her into the control room. It wasn’t part of her duties as leader of her team, but she liked to spend a little while every morning looking over the screens. It made her feel safe, knowing that the universe didn’t need her all the time. Seeing the peace reminded her just why she had come back to this calling.

The brunette woman slides into one of the empty control chairs and fixes her eyes on the screens, watching as they rotated through the different galaxies and sectors of the known universe.

And then of course, because she had known that at some point in the day it would happen, her life was flipped on its axis again, and everything went to hell.


	2. Soldier Keep On Marching On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim remembers the rule of impossibility, crows are not your friends most days and her friends worry for her. Plus a Tyrannosaurs Rex just misses some very important information.

_"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.- Alice in Wonderland"_

**Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo, Monitoring Control Room**

“Good Morning ma’am” Doverian said as she walked past him into the control room. He was young by his planet’s standards, with skin the color of burnished gold and eyes that reminded Kim of the spiced wine her mother used to drink during the holidays. He had reminded her of a greek statue or the subject of a painting when they first met.  
“One of these days you’re going to call me by my name.” the former pink ranger chides as she slides into the empty chair a few down from him.  
“It’s not likely ma’am.” Beyond her status as a leader on one of the Council’s ranger strike teams, the well known fact that she was Zordon’s chosen pink meant that everyone treated her like she was a hair's breadth from royalty.  
“Any issues over the shift?” she questioned, her eyes on the screens in front of them.  
“The secondary squad was sent to check out a small little skirmish on Rashon. The Cleanup team is still deployed out to Tarmac 3 after the attack, it’s going well.” His voice has a musical lit to it that reminds the human woman of Trini.  
She’s about to comment on how it’s been a quiet week so far when something catches her eye, black feathers and purple armor. It’s a city block, but not one she notices right away.  
“Doverian what sector is that?” She asks with a tight voice, pointing to the screen up in the top right corner.  
He taps away at a few buttons before that one screen takes over the whole wall and now Kim knows that it’s New York City. “It’s sector six ma’am, in a place called New York on the planet Earth.” The Herucron doesn’t remember as he says it that she grew up on the planet, has no way of knowing that she knows exactly what street it is now that she can see.  
“How long will it take the planetary team to get there?” The Galactic Council worked closely with the Morphin Council to keep a record of every ranger team on every planet. They kept information on the power source, weapons, allies and any other pertinent information. Doverian taps out a few more keys and a dialogue box appears on his computer screen.  
“The last planetary team went inactive two months ago. A new one hasn’t been created yet according to either Council’s records.” He looks up, seeing the Strike Team leader’s face go ashen.  
“Send out a priority one alert to my team. Sleath only. And send a notification to the Grand Councilman, I’m going to need to see him when I get back.” She’s already moved out of the chair as she issues the orders. Kim’s legs move her through the hallways towards the teleportation platforms they take off from missions from at a dead sprint, skidding to a stop in the empty room. Taking a deep breath she motions with her left hand, the Grid providing the energy for her transformation into the stealth uniforms that her team used. The black piping that denoted her ranger color was only a few shades lighter than the black fabric of the uniform.  
“Kimberly what’s going on?” Kayden, the Triforian Red Ranger asks as he runs ahead of the rest of their team, already in their stealth uniforms.  
“Tengu are attacking a major Earth city. There’s no active team on the planet right now. Under no circumstances can we morph, it will draw attention I do not want.” The black ranger issues the orders as she walks to the teleporters command computer, smiling to herself when she sees that the location has already been attached to her ID code. She’s going to have to make sure she brings back Doverian something nice tomorrow morning.

****

New York City, New York, Planet Earth- Sector Six

****

**  
**

When the beams of teleportation fade away and their feet touch the asphalt ground of 7th Avenue, there’s no time for her to admire the scenery. 

The scene in front of them was pure chaos.

People were running and screaming away from the overgrown birds that were flapping their wings and cawing at them. No one looked hurt just yet, but the Tengu knew how to terrorize a group of people. “Jayden, Kenale and Akhuti get the civilians out of harm's way, do your best to keep anyone coming this way out of the trajectory of the fight. Geka and Thyltand will take on the Tengu with me.” Kim looks around, glad for the face mask and hood that covers her as she tries to judge the best launching point. Getting a running start she vaults herself over one of the overturned cars, landing soundlessly a few yards in front of the gang of monsters.  
“I thought the Z wave toasted you overgrown turkeys!” She shouted, drawing their attention to her.  
“Nothing can stop evil Black Ranger.” The lead Tengu said before it flew at her, Kim taking a defensive stance just long enough to get her footing and duck under the huge wing like arm, the blow only landing part of the way.  
“Yeah I’ve heard that before.” she groaned out flipping forwards so she would be out of the way. Even just at a glancing blow, it hurt far more than she had ever remembered.  
“What are these things Lightening?” Geka, the Eltarian Pink Ranger of her team, asks as she kicks out at one of the Tengu  
“Tengu warriors. They were henchmen of Ivan Ooze, Rita and Zedd.” It distracts both rangers long enough for them to get sent flying backwards, groaning from the power behind them.  
“They’re incredibly strong.” Geka comments, pushing herself to her feet.  
“Stronger than they were before. But they go down eventually, just like all the others.” Her teeth grit as she gets back on her feet, ready to go up against them all over again.

Kimberly surveyed the battlefield after nearly a half hour of fighting, worn down and not seeing any other options. The civilians are for the most part gone now, staying clear of the area, police have set up a blockade almost half a mile away from the fight. With their powers it would be easy, but on the off chance they get spotted by news cameras and then any of the on planet former rangers see and come looking for them. It would be a disaster that she’s really not willing to have to mitigate.

Which lead her to her brilliant plan

It was a stupid decision, she knew that, and something that might get her killed if it didn’t work. She had to try though, because if it was just her, by the time anyone who possibly caught sight of what was going on had gotten in contact with her replacement, Kimberly would be long off planet. “Zordon.” she thought as she moved away from the fight, wanting space just in case the Power backlashed during this attempt. “if you can hear me, may the power protect me.”  
“NINJETTE THE CRANE.” she shouted into the air, eyes screwed tightly shut, a split second before the crane screeched to life in the back of her mind and she was again clad in the pink ninja uniform that had been made for her. Even though she had shared these powers with Katherine, they were hers, just as much as her heart or lungs belonged to her.  
“Alright birdbrains, let’s tengo.” she quipped, flipping forward as she made relatively quick work of the Tengas, smug when they started blowing up and dropping black feathers all over the place. It was a new development, but a satisfying one. 

Kimberly lets the morph drop, leaving her again clad in the stealth uniform that she had been wearing before. “Let’s get out of here.” She told the other five rangers, hitting the activation device on her belt.

****

Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo, Ranger Mission Teleporting Bay

****

**  
**

When they’re back on the ship Kim isn’t surprised to find the Grand Councilman’s liaison to the rangers standing there waiting. Alyven is a tall creature, of a planet the former pink ranger never has actually asked about. Her skin is the color of a pistachio nut and towers by at least two feet over the slight black ranger.  
“I have a message from His Eminence for you Lady Crane.” Alyven says in her blown wind voice, bowing ever so slightly to her.  
“I need to see him right away.” She stressed, feeling it even more important than when she first sent the message to him.  
“As Captain Doverian told me. The Grand Councilman is at home with his family for the next few days. However he wanted me to extend the invitation for you to meet him there to discuss what you need,” the green skinned woman pulled her lips into a smile.  
“I’ll go there now then.” Kimberly turns to the control panel and starts inputting the information about where she’s headed. “We’ll debrief when I get back. You all did well today.” she smiles at her team encouragingly before hitting the button to active the teleporter.

**Home of the Grand Councilman of the Galactic Council, Sector 14**

The black column of crackling energy deposits her on the edge of the forest that borders the home she’s heading too. Kim can see from where she’s standing that the small family of four is sitting outside in the yard, the two children playing catch with a bright red and yellow ball. As she begins her walk across the field that separates the yard from the forest, it gives her time to ruminate over the developments on Earth. The Tengu had been powerful, more so than any foot soldier she had ever remembered facing. It had almost been like going up against a monster. More concerning for Kim was the fact that they had even been there at all. The Z wave had to her knowledge destroyed everything that hadn’t been human. Zedd and Rita had both been cleansed by it and she personally saw Ivan Ooze blow up so the who of how the Tengu got onto Earth was another gnawing worry in her mind.

But the most disarming event had been the ability to connect to the Ninja powers. It shouldn’t have worked. It should have killed her in a flash of pink power. The coins had been destroyed, her life force physically severed from the connection to her animal spirit. Did being able to connect to the ninja form that should she need to, even without a coin, connect to the full morph abilities of the Pink Crane Ranger?

_“Too those who possess great power, anything is possible.” Dulcea’s voice floated through her head_

“Well this has to be really terrible if you didn’t even bother to change before coming.” Andros comments sardonically when she’s close enough.  
“It is me and it is ranger related so of course it’s terrible Stripes.” She uses his nickname, stepping forward to pull him into a hug.  
“You also don’t call up Priority One level alerts for nothing Kim.” It’s Ashley who comments now, looking grave as she pulls the other woman into a crushing hug.  
“I need a total scrub of any possible footage of my team's interaction on Earth today. There’s a chance one of them already saw it but if they haven’t I’d like to keep it that way.” Her hand repeats the movements it did earlier to call up the stealth uniform to make it disappear, sitting down heavily into a chair set up around the beautiful mosaic table.  
“What happened?” Andros asks, suddenly incredibly serious. This is Grand Councilman, the man whose primary concern is keeping all of the universe safe and peaceful.  
“There were Tengu in New York. And they were stronger than they’ve ever been. My whole team couldn’t take them down unmorphed after half an hour. I wasn’t willing to make the call to morph. It would have raised too many questions, gotten too much attention from the planet side rangers. And they didn’t do more than a few lines of banter. These guys meant serious business Andros.” Sitting with her friends, with people who she feels more comfortable showing her anxiety and fear brought on by today’s showdown, she lets it bleed into her voice.  
“So if they were too tough unmorphed and you didn’t morph with the Strike powers, how’d you get rid of them?” Ashley questions interested. She still had access to her Space and Turbo powers but to her knowledge that wasn't the case for the original Pink Ranger  
“I called on my Ninjette powers and they actually worked.” Kimberly looks away, watching the twins toss the ball back and forth to each other telepathically.  
Andros hand thumps against the table, the glass he had been holding shattering with it. “Putting aside how monumentally stupid that was off you. Not to mention reckless, dangerous and potentially suicidal.” They’re both glaring at her, she can feel it. “I’ll send out the order for the scrub and we hope none of your old teams saw it. In the meantime, we’ll gather Mystic Mother and Zandred, see if maybe they have some idea on the hows of this.”  
“I’m going to see Dulcea, she may hopefully have some answers.” Kim decides it as a way to avoid having to see Rita or Zedd. They may not be evil anymore, but it doesn’t erase all the things they did to her, her friends, her planet and to Zordon. The less she has to spend time with them, the less likely to do something she won’t be able to forgive herself for.  
"That's a good idea. She's not a fan of either council so it's more likely she'll talk to you than anyone else." Andros comments, now standing as he telepathically lifts the broken shards of glass into a trash bin just inside the house's back door.

**New York City, New York, Planet Earth- Sector Six**

“The world just keeps getting weirder.” Jason Lee Scott commented as he sat down at his kitchen counter, his back to the TV he had turned down when his wife called him. She was about to fly back from Vietnam, her work at the consulate requiring her to go to the country where her parents had immigrated from. “Next thing you know there will be world peace.” He was eating some leftover lasagna before heading into work for his overnight shift, his wife would get home just an hour before he would and then they would be able to spend the next two days together before either had to go back to work. “I’ll see you tomorrow though, fly safe.” he let out a chuckle as she reminded him to be safe while he was out working. “I will. I love you too.” Jason hung up the phone and dug back into his food, never turning around to look at the tv screen until well after the story that would be of interest to him was long over. Had he turned around when he hung up with his wife, he would have seen a brief glimpse of a pink ninja taking out overgrown crows.

Jason Lee Scott had enlisted in the army after his stint as the Gold Zeo Ranger, restless and feeling like no matter what, he would always need to be in the thick of the fight. He had done three tours overseas, before coming home and marrying his longtime girlfriend Trini Kwan, the move to New York motivated by Trini being offered a position with the Vietnemise Consulate, Jason rattling around their apartment before landing on taking the civil service exam and attending the police academy. All but one of his friends had attended his graduation, even Billy who had newly returned from Aquitar. Kimberly had been the only one of their little found family that hadn’t been there. He had tried to find her of course, exhausted every resource all of them had but it was like she didn’t exist. It hurt him in more ways than he could accurately describe. Kimberly had been his first friend, his little sister. Everything in their lives they had faced together, up until right after they had been dropped in a lava pit and turned into soulless evil children of a lava monster. He’ll never forget the moment he called her after three letters had been sent back to him, only to find out that the number was no longer in service. He called the gym she was training at after that, only to find himself told that Kimberly would take no calls from him and that the receptionist hung up on him.

He’d never gotten over the sting of that, to be completely shut out of his sister’s life for no fathomable reason. They watched her compete in the games, watched as she gave interviews that never once mentioned the group of friends who were all watching. Equal parts angry and sad, Jason wondered what the carmel haired woman was doing nowadays.

He didn’t know what he would do if he ever saw her again but he hoped if she was alive somewhere, she had a really good reason for all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story will leave a lot of gaps in your knowledge of what is going on, how some characters are connected and the why of certain important question. Some of it is because I don't know the answers yet and others are on purpose. There's a lot of things I want to hold on to until the rangers are actually together again, and as of right now that's not looking to be until around chapter five or so. 
> 
> This story is not only about the adults that grew from teenage superheros, the things that traumatized and changed them, but also a story about how found families can fracture and learn to heal, even if it isn't the same as it once was.


	3. Believe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're off into the actual meat of the story! As of right now it looks like we won't be getting the full team assembled until chapter 5 but even still, this is going to get ugly before it gets better. I'm really enjoying exploring where everyone is before this, and why Kim has felt the need to cut herself off from her friends. (Hint remember what you were like at 21-22 years old.)

_ “I've got a bad case of the 3:00 am guilts - you know, when you lie in bed awake and replay all those things you didn't do right?”- DD Barant _

##  **Boston, Massachusetts, Planet Earth-Sector Six**

Aisha missed the Savannah the most on days like today. Boston was cold in ways she had never really experienced. Bitter and biting with wind that whipped across her face like a thousand pins all at one. It was crowded too, a big city trying to fit into pants that were too tight. The Savannah had been all wide open space, even the tree cover spaced out so that you could see for miles and miles around. She missed the village and its inhabitants. The people were kind, open and welcoming in a way you didn’t find in the world anymore. They had known, maybe not exactly that she was a Power Ranger, but they had known she was a warrior of some kind. They had called her shujaa wa kike and treated her with a kind of revenrence. She had done everything she could to show her appreciation and respect for them. Most of all though, she missed the animals that she had helped care for. The lions, elephants, impalas and even the warthogs. Life was precious on those pieces of land. She had been important to the circle of life.

The decision to leave her life as a Power Ranger behind and settle there had been a both difficult and easy one. There was regret of course; choosing to abandon the duty she had been given, leaving her friends who had become more of her family than her own parents. But leaving had rewarded her with the ability to help people and animals. It shown her purpose beyond the Power, something that as a teenager she had worried over to her best friend. What would they do when the time came to move on? How do you still make an impact when you’ve saved the world?

An invitation to lecture about the animals of African Savannah had finally brought her home to the United States, even if it was on the opposite side of the country from where she had grown up. 

A lecture she was going to be incredibly late for if she didn’t manage to get her ass in gear.

“ _ According to our affiliates in New York Hal, the pink ninja was wearing the same uniform as the Power Rangers of Angel Grove from the early 90s.”  _ Janet Wu’s voice floated from the TV in the bedroom as she rushed to finish her makeup in the connected bathroom. The brush she had been holding falls out of her hand as she rushes out of the bathroom to try and catch any of the video footage. Chocolate eyes widen as she sees the pink ninja taking on Tengu warriors in downtown New York.

There’s a sickness in her stomach, seeing the familiar uniform on her TV screen. It looks just as pristine as the first time she had seen it, which later she would think was so strange. It had been a very long time since those powers had been called for the last time. Shouldn’t it show it’s wear? There isn’t time to process it fully and there isn’t time for her to sit glued to the television, watching it over and over. The world has tilted on its axis for her personally but her professional life is demanding her attention. Quickly dashing to the bedside table, the former yellow ranger opens the laptop Billy had gifted her as a graduation present for her doctorate and quickly pulled up the news site and downloaded the video so she could look at it after her seminar. She would dissect it over and over again, bring it to Justin so he could confirm it was real. 

In the taxi ride over to the University she sends a text to Katherine. Unassuming and familiar she asks the Australian who had also worn the uniform what she was up to for the rest of the week. When the blonde replies with a recounting of ballet students and nothing more her stomach sinks and her traitorous heart soars.

No matter how much she tried to ignore it during her lecture and then the ride home, Aisha wasn’t able to shake the ice cold grip that seemed to be squeezing her heart as tight as a noose.

There were only ghosts left if Katherine hadn’t been the one to call on the powers.

Kimberly had been the first real female friend she had ever had. She had friends on teams and in different clubs but there had never been someone else for her to confide in. It had been the pink ranger who made her feel welcome on the team. They had confided in each other about everything. Hell they had been as close as sisters for the last half of both of their ranger tours, living together when Kim’s mother and stepfather moved to France. There were times when she was sure her best friend was dead and others were Aisha rationalized that she would have known. Surely there would have been some feeling? The bear in her soul crying out at the death of her soul sister. 

[ **Outgoing Text** ] Can I come by your lab? I need you to check something out for me

The buzzing response manages to startle her a little bit, the jump making her feel ridiculous.

[ **Incoming Text: Little Boy Blue** ] Sure I should be finished up with what I’m doing by six. I’ll order Thai.

  
  
  
  


##  **Home of the Grand Councilman Andros, KO-35 Sector 14**

She had only seen him like this a few times since the Z Wave purified them both. Had avoidance been an Olympic sport, she would have earned gold medals in that as well. Watching him walk towards where she, Andros and Ashley are sitting around a larger table on the back patio raised the hair on the back of her neck, muscles poised and waiting for an attack. 

“This is a bad idea.” she murmurs to her two companions, wanting to voice her protest. 

“They’re the best lead on information Kimberly.” Andros’s voice is chiding, his face mirroring the disapproval in his voice. 

They had never been able to agree on this particular issue. Andros believed that as the evil had been purged out of them, it was worth giving the benefit of the doubt. After all Rita was now the Mystic Mother. To the former Red Space Ranger, that counted for a lot. Kimberly however couldn’t see past the beings that had terrorized her and her friends during their youth. Andros had made the mistake of bringing up Tommy the first time they had the argument about Zedd and Rita, pointing out that she had never held Tommy’s actions against him. Her eyes had gone to steel, hands clenching and unclenching as she reminded him through gritted teeth that Tommy Oliver had no choice in what he had done and had more than proved himself. Voice sounding more like a growl she had reminded Andros that at sixteen years old Tommy Oliver carried the white light of goodness, before storming out of his office.

They didn’t talk for almost two weeks after

Where there had once been chrome and exposed pulsing red muscle was now a tall, lithe man with sandy blonde hair and eyes that looked to be made of pure gold. He was wearing a belted red tunic, causing the Black Ranger to sneer. Zandred of Eltar was, from what she had been told by the people she encountered who had known him personally, the spitting image of his twin brother Zordon before he had been trapped in a time warp by Zandred’s ever so charming wife, the Mystic Mother. He had been the Red Ranger on the team that his brother had been the White Ranger for, reminding Kimberly of Jason and Tommy. 

“Grand Councilman, Lady Crane, we came as soon as we got your message.” Zandred said with a bow to the both of them.

“Thank you both for coming so quickly. The information we have to share is dire and neither of us can imagine how it happened.” Andros’s tone is warm, inviting them both to join them sitting at the table. 

“Alyven was more cryptic than normal.” The mystic mother comments, the rustle of her white skirts distracting from Kimberly from her anger for a moment.

“There were Tengu on Earth.” she snaps at them, wanting to move this along as quickly as she possibly can.

The couple pauses midway into taking their seats, a look of dread passing between them as they take in the information. 

“There isn’t necessarily a correlation.” Mystic Mother comments diplomatically

“It would be the only thing that i know of with the power to bring those monsters back.” Zandred counters back, looking for a moment at Kimberly with the same parental look Zordon used to give her.

“You know what resurrected them?” Ashley wonders

“How much do you know about the staff I wielded as Lord Zedd?” Zandred asked, that same diplomatic tone in his voice that the Mystic Mother had used. 

“Beyond that I wanted to snap it in half, nothing.” Kim comments flatly

“I know that it was the source of your power and that it was what created the” Andros trails off for a moment, an edge of embarrassment in his tone 

“The staff is a relic of an old Power cult known as the Cult of Zedd. The legends were that Zedd was the first user of the Grid to ever be corrupted. The acolytes of the cult imbued it with his powers just before he died. And ever since then any being who's held the staff, their darkness and magic has strengthened it. Anytime a Zedd has been destroyed that power has stayed with the staff. When my brother sacrificed himself, I took the staff and with Mystic Mother’s help, locked it in a vault of white magic. It should be impossible for any of the acolytes to get it.” Xandred explained, looking sad even as he told the tale.

“So if all the power was in the staff, how did this happen?” Kim’s curiosity overrode her anger so that the question came out kindly.

“Not all of the power, Lady Crane. Just most of it. Beyond whatever being is attempting to claim the title of Zedd possess on their own, the acolytes themselves hold a measure of the original Zedd’s power. There is a ritual that the candidate must survive first. If they manage it, then they would be given the staff.” His golden eyes are thoughtful as he considers who might have come along to try and take up the power. 

“Would you know where to find who it is and where they might be?” Andros inquired, hopeful that this would be able to put to rest quickly.

“Unfortunately no, the location hasn’t been written. I stumbled upon the temple by accident and it was moved after I took on the staff, which was the tradition.”

Kimberly stood resting her hands on the table in front of her, taking a deep steadying breath. “This has been illuminating but I have other, pressing information to try and obtain. If you think of anything useful, please share it with the council.” She presses the button on her belt, disappearing in a column of black light.

“I’m sorry for her abruptness.” Andros says quietly

“It is an understandable thing for Kimberly to be unable to forgive us. We are responsible for her most terrible nightmares.” Zandred acknowledged with an understanding nod of his head.

“But I fear what will happen if she is not willing to open her heart as it once was and forgive herself.” the woman once known as Rita commented, staring at the sport where the former Pink Ranger used to be. 

  
  
  


##  **Blue Wolf Technologies Satellite Lab- Boston, Massachusetts, Planet Earth-Sector Six**

  
  


“Aisha are you all right?” Justin asks his friend, watching the way she seems almost nervous. Her face looks grave and he can’t put his finger on the reason she seemed to hug him harder than normal. She also hadn’t touched the food they ordered, which was odd in and of itself. 

“This thing I need you to check out for me. If it’s real...Justin I can’t wrap my head around it.” her voice trembles, pain and a hint of fear coloring the tone of it. 

“Sha you’re kind of scaring me.” the younger man admits, nerves spiking. 

Justin Stewart had known many ranger women over the years. And fear or nervousness was not an emotion that he was used to seeing on any of their faces, least of all Aisha. In all the time he had known her she had been the fierce, fearless bear that her ninja spirit represented. 

The former yellow ranger goes over to her bag and pulls out her laptop, pulling up the video she had downloaded and started it, letting the younger ranger watch it. 

“Oh fucking Christ.” Justin swore, realizing what he was watching as he heard the voice and saw the uniform that came from the bright pink light. He hadn’t really known Kimberly beyond the time they met during his first adventure as a ranger. But the people he cared about, the people who were like his older siblings cared a lot. This was going to fuck all of them up. Badly. 

“Does Tommy or Jason know yet?” he murmurs quietly, typing away furiously on the keyboard to start running diagnostics on the video file

“No not yet. I don’t know how to tell any of them about this, not until I know it’s real. And even if it is real, how do I tell them?” her hands tremble, arms wrapping around her midsection to hug herself tightly. Her lips tremble as she tries to hold in the sobs threatening to spill from her lips. She can not differentiate between the anger at knowing her friend is alive and had left them all thinking the worst for so long and the pure, unabashed relief that Kimberly was alive and okay. She wants to know why more than anything else. What could have possibly happened that would make Kim just cut them all off like she had. They had been through countless battles, more hopeless situations than Aisha would ever like to recount. There wasn’t anything so terrible that the dark skinned woman could conjure up that would force her pink sister to choose to abandon them the way she had. Justin catches sight of her out of the corner of his eye, swallowing as he lets the scanning program run and steps away from the yellow laptop, walking over to his friend. 

“It’s okay to cry Sha.” he assures her, reaching out to envelope her in a tight hug, swallowing thickly as he feels her start to cry into his chest in violent, harsh sobs. 

  
  
  
  


##  **The Ninjette Temple Ruins, Phadeos-Sector 23**

She stands on the precipice of the stone platform that overlooked the path down into the jungle, watching as the sunset in a beautiful burst of orange, pink and yellow light. She could feel a presence watching from behind her, the feeling of the gaze burning into the back of her head as tears pricked the corner of her eyes. 

“You can come out now Duclea.” She called, hearing rustling and steps on the stone, another body standing next to her.

“In all the time you have been working with the Council, you have never come here.” The master warrior comments, not entirely unkind

“There was no reason for me to. I was no longer connected to the Ninjette and my team had long broken apart.” Kimbery counters the chiding 

“I believe you have learned today that that is not altogether true haven’t you young Crane?” Dulcea is smiling, the pink and black ranger can feel it. 

“How is it even possible? And don’t give me that  _ for those who possess the great power _ crap” her caramel colored hair whips around as she turns on her heel to glare at the other woman.

“That crap as you call it is the truth.” The master warrior’s voice takes on a hard edge as she stares down at the smaller woman. “Just because the coins were destroyed does not mean that the power was not still deep inside of you. You are the Crane, agile and graceful. And you shall be that way until your life is no more. Just as your team will always be your team Kimberly.” 

“That isn’t true. What I’ve done to them isn’t something they’ll forgive.” She walks backwards toward the shrine where they had first been connected to their animal spirits, feeling as if she closed her eyes for a moment that when she opened them again she would see the nearly invincible six teens that had stood there over ten years ago. 

“You are not the only one who has made mistakes, my young Crane. And you underestimate your teammates. You have not done something so grave as to never be forgiven.” 

“You couldn’t begin to understand. I made a choice and by the time I realized it was the wrong one, it had gone on too long. There’s an earth saying about making your bed and lying in it” She sighs deeply, kicking out at a stray rock on the ground.

“You have become bitter with your regret and closed off the heart that used to define you. You will never be able to soar again Kimberly if you do not find a way to let go of that.” Dulcea’s final words are tinged with sadness for the girl in front of her, a rush of air and then a flutter of wings signalling to Kimberly her departure. 

“Helpful as always.” she comments to the empty air, looking around one more time before disappearing in a shower of black light. 

  
  
  


##  **Somewhere in Space**

“That blasted pink ranger is going to ruin everything!” the henchman groaned to his master, his fist shaking in direction of the viewing screen. 

“Oh come now, our game has only just begun.” The villain spoke with a smooth voice, his face was boyish, his acid green eyes and the slight point to his ears the only things that gave him away physically as not being a fully human. “And she’s been divided from her team for a very long time, I would not count on them mending those bridges so easily.” he reminded his henchman with a wagging finger. 

“Yes master.” his henchman nodded, the golden glint of his armor reflecting off the low candle light

“Are the acolytes almost ready?” he asked the creature who served as his right hand

“They will be ready for the ritual by tomorrow.” the other informed him with a sinister smirk.

“Let us keep our focus there, as we are not ready to reveal our true purpose. I’ll keep sending creatures down as tests. There’s no sense in worrying before we need to.” he was nonchalant, overconfident in his belief that where others had failed he would succeed. The pink ranger showing up had been an unexpected turn of events, but not one that could not be surmounted. The rangers that had been hailed across the galaxies as undefeatable were fractured and the villain was skeptical that those fractures could be mended well enough to create a viable fighting force.


	4. Way Down We Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aisha realizes there's only one head cool enough to take her information too, we get a quaint look at Tommy's life before it all blows up and our villain and Kim meet for the first time.

_ “The past beats inside me like a second heart.”―  _ **_John Banville_ **

  
  
  
  


##  **Reefside, California, Planet Earth-Sector Six**

“Dr.O are you here?” Kira shouted into the living room of her old teacher’s house, leading the group of Dino rangers inside. 

“In the basement guys!’ Tommy shouted up to them from where he was sitting at the computer working through a few kinks in the new wide range communication system. 

“You know Dr.O there is actually more to your house than just the basement right?” Conner teased the older man 

“Very funny Conner. Billy’s been helping me with the widening the range on the lab’s communicator so that way I can more easily contact teams like the space rangers. It’s been acting up so I’m trying to fix it.” After the Red mission and then the one where Adam helped the Overdrive Rangers, Tommy felt they needed a more efficient way to communicate then hoping they got each other on their cell phones. This system would not only ping any active communicators that the users bio signature was attached to as well as known cell phones. If it was done on the emergency frequency it would also be sent to a specific line at Blue Wolf Technologies. 

“Do you want some help? I’ve been assisting Billy with some stuff since Justin is heading up the satellite lab in Boston.” Ethan had been giddy when the original blue ranger had asked him to come onto the staff. 

“That would be great Ethan. Haley's too busy with the Cybercafe to really help me with the more advanced tech this week.” The dark haired man smiled at his former student, pointing to the chair to the right of him. 

“You still want to spar?” Trent asked Conner with a raised brow, pointing to the mats in the far corner of the rebuilt lab. 

“Hell yeah! I learned some new moves from Jason and Rocky that are going to put you on your ass man!” Conner jumped up, shoes kicked off with an inhuman speed. 

Tommy couldn’t help but smile as he listened to the two rangers banter, Kira interjecting that she got to face off with the winner. He had thought himself done with the Power after passing along the Red Lightning morpher to TJ. Even after the Red mission he hadn’t ever thought he would find himself so involved with the Power Rangers. But then he had stumbled across the Dino Gems and all that changed. Tommy’s initial idea would be that the gems would go to members of his old team, not even himself unless they had managed to find the white gem. He would do the tech stuff and monitor, a sort of Alpha/Zordon hybrid. But then the kids had found them and as much as it had scared him witless at first, the former black ranger was happy they had. 

Tommy had always spent a lot of time with Zordon as a teenager, feeling that he needed more guidance because of his dark past. Even before his start as the evil green ranger he had been a less than model person. Adrift and looking for a place to belong. His parents hadn’t adopted him till he was 13 and had put him into martial arts as a way for him to channel the anger and fighting that he had come to them always looking for. Before that his fighting style had been raw street tactics and a little bit of boxing he had learned in one of his foster homes. Zordon had become like a second father to him, helping to guide on the path of light and goodness. 

Kim had been a big part of that too, even if he hated to admit it all these years later. When he had become the green ranger after breaking Rita’s spell, the two had grown exceptionally close and she had been the one he confided his fears, his insecurities and his guilt in. The pink ranger had done so much into making Tommy believe he was the incredibly good man she saw him as. He’d never gotten a chance to thank her for it, let alone tell her how much her love and faith in him had carried him through every moment as a ranger and a lot of moments out of the uniform. 

“Come on Dr.O, neither of these guys are a challenge.” Kira called over to him, laughing at the offended noises her teammates let out in protest. Tommy laughed and wondered to himself if introducing Kira to the progenitors of her color hadn’t been a terrible idea. The original eleven rangers had been over the moon to meet the Dino kids, teasing Tommy about taking on a new color and mentoring during the two groups first meeting. It had made him feel good, no matter how much he faked being annoyed about Jason and Zack telling stories about his early ranger days and Rocky and Adam telling the later ones. Tommy would like to think Zordon would have been proud of him, of them as a group and of Connor, Kira, Ethan and Trent. 

**  
  
  
  
**

##  **Narkman, The Vica Galaxy- Sector Eighty Four**

**  
  
**

“We are ready to proceed, Seeker.” the High Priest of the Cult of Zedd, Pato Ixlithh told the villain who would, should the ritual accept him, become master of himself and the other acolytes in truth. Zathua Janrenk looked like a human teenager, his pale skin and boyish face were easily deceptive, something he used to his advantage often. Pato had seen many of the men who had taken on the title of Zedd before their transformations and this one never looked like much. He had been skeptical of him passing any of the trials at all when the boy had first found the temple. The High Priest had been very wrong and as he watched the would be Zedd as he stepped toward the pool of deep red liquid chest naked to display the carvings made into his arms and chest by the acolytes, he looked eerily sinister. 

“See you on the other side” Zathua winked and then submerged himself in the pool, just barely able to hear the gathered acolytes beginning to chant, eyelids closing over his acid green eyes as he opened himself up to the Power. For a few moments he felt nothing, a spike of fear bolting through him that he would not be deemed worthy, and then suddenly he was overtaken by raw power. He screamed, screamed for so long that he thought his voice might give out on him completely. 

But then the pain and the screaming stopped and the power settled into his veins. He smiled as he lifted himself from the pool, knowing that inside it Zathua Janrenk had died and Lord Zedd had been reborn. He noticed as the waters fled from his skin that it was now the same deep garnet color of the waters. An interesting development. 

“My Lord.” Pato bowed low to him, reverence in his tone

“High Priest.” Zedd acknowledged, his face split open in a smile and showing his newly pointed teeth. “Call the Warrior and the Tengu here. I have plans for both of them that will aide me in the return of my staff.” He could feel that his new power was far greater than anything he had had before, but the Staff of Zedd was the key to unlocking all of the Power. He could not make his move on the Universe or the group of people proficiesed to be able to have the power to destroy the Cult for good without it.

“Right away my lord.” Pato Ixlithh bowed again before all but running off to do as he was bid, an evil smile covering his face at the prospect of a Zedd who would finally bring about the total submission of the universe. 

**  
  
  
  
  
**

##  **The Vietnamese Embassy, New York City, Planet Earth-Sector Six**

**  
  
**

Once she had gotten over the need to cry and Justin confirming that the video was actually real, her mind had turned to who exactly was going to be the first person she shared the information with. Jason, Tommy and even Billy were totally out of the question. She wanted to call Rocky, he and Kim had been close during their ranger days, but Rocky wouldn’t be able to keep it from Jason or Tommy. He’d cite some Red Ranger code and how it was scared and he couldn’t just keep that huge of a secret from them. She loved Katherine but there was no telling how the blonde woman would react to Kimberly. They were friends on the surface, but the former yellow ranger knew it was the ghost of Kim that had ended Tommy and Katherine’s relationship both times they attempted it. 

The only sensible option she realized was to go to the only person among the former rangers who could be counted on to be completely calm in any situation.

“I’m here to see Trini Scott.” She told the woman at the reception desk three days after she had first seen the footage on television. 

“Do you have an appointment?” The dark haired receptionist asked

“I don’t, but she’ll see me. If you could just tell her Aisha Campbell is here to see her please.” She tried to look unassuming and pleasant, keeping a smile on her face 

The receptionist looks skeptical but still picks up the phone and holds a short conversation in Vietnamese with whoever is on the other end of the line, and then directs her to wait in one of the chairs. Aisha thanks her and then finds a comfortable chair to sit and wait in, clutching her laptop bag. 

**  
  
**

When Trini walks over to her, there’s genuine concern on her face as she looks at her replacement. “Something tells me you’re not here just to say hi.”

“I would have called but...well honestly I’m still a little all over the place. It’s been a weird weekend.” She admits, sheepish now that she’s faced with her slightly crazy decision to just take off to New York.

“This related to our shared extracurricular?” Trini wonders, looking around out of habit

“More about a missing bird.” Aisha shrugs and watched her predecessors eyes widen in shock

“Why don’t we go to my office.” Trini suggests, surprised to realize her palms are sweating 

Aisha stands and follows the slight woman through a set of double doors and then down three hallways before they enter the large office that has Trini’s name posted outside in English and then Vietnamese under it. Aisha shuts the door behind them, sighing deeply as she sets her bag down and pulls out the piece of yellow technology. 

“This was on the news Friday morning. I brought it to Justin to analyze that night. When I tried to find the article I downloaded it from or anything at all about it, Trini it was just gone. Like someone knew it might have been filmed and got rid of it.” That had been the most weird and concerning part of this whole ridiculous weekend. She turned the computer to Trini, settling the cursor over the play button.

“Who would go through all that trouble? And what does this have to do with Kim?” Trini wonder’s out loud, pressing play on the video.

She understands pretty quickly that the woman covered in a black leather looking ninja outfit is Kim. Trini had spent far too much of her life watching her best friend throw flips and incorporate it into martial arts once they became rangers. Relief blooms in her chest knowing that at least all this time she hasn't been dead or any of the equally terrible ideas she had come up with to explain where the original pink ranger had disappeared off to after the incident with the Turbo Rangers. What she doesn’t understand is who would be able to get rid of something like this and why. Her first thought would be Billy, but had the original blue known they all would have. 

He had never been able to keep a secret. 

“Oh my god!” she exclaims as she watches Kimberly call on her ninja powers. 

“My reaction exactly.” Aisha confirms with a nod, dropping back into a chair. 

Trini rubs her forehead, already able to feel the headache developing as she thinks about the logistics of sharing this information. She’ll need to tell Jason first, alone and after she’s put him in a food coma. She’ll probably need to do the same for Zack, he could be incredibly hot headed when he wanted to be. Aisha could tell Rocky and Adam, she had known the two men the longest and would know how to talk to them. Tanya and Katherine were outliers that she didn’t exactly know how to handle. Neither Aisha or herself had really served with either of them and to be honest they were friends, family even, but not incredibly close ones. Maybe she would leave it to Justin. Then of course there was Billy and Tommy. 

Most people thought the group had started with Trini and Kim or Kim and Jason, but it had been Billy and Kim that had met each other first. Their parents were friends, Caroline and Maria both being pregnant around the same and their children born only a month apart from each other. He had taken the information of Kim’s disappearance incredibly hard, even if he hadn’t let anyone know about it. He wasn’t prone to anger, not even during the most terrible of Rita and Zedd’s plans but she wasn’t entirely sure how he would take this news. Maybe she and Zack should go together and tell him. 

The first yellow ranger wanted even less to do with having to tell Tommy. He could never be counted on to have a rational reaction when Kim was involved. Maybe once Jason calmed down after being told the news he could be the one to tell the former white ranger. They were best friends and would feel the same way about it for different reasons. 

“Alright let’s lay out how we’re going to start telling everyone. Justin knows not to tell anyone else right?” She asks, sitting down behind her desk to rifle through the top draw in search of a thumb drive

“He wanted zero part of dealing with big brother rangers reactions.” Aisha replied with a chuckle, pulling aspirin out of the laptop bag and offering three of the pills out to the woman opposite her. 

Trini nodded and began to lay out the plan she had formed that would hopefully get everyone informed with the most minimal casualties possible. What everyone would do with that information was a whole different monster she was ready to consider just yet. Part of her thanked Zordon that none of them knew where she was, the brief moment where she conjured up an image of her husband and male best friends running off to chase the first pink ranger down making her shudder.

**  
  
**

##  **Gratha, The Pavo Zagreus Galaxy- Sector Eighty Seven**

## 

“Are you sure there’s something here Control?” Kim asked, thankful for the built in communicator that allowed her to speak into her helmet and connect with the main control room back on the ship.

“The alarm was tripped by the system, not manually ma’am.” Lieutenant Khek told her with a slightly frustrated tone to his voice

“Well I’m not seeing anything for miles beyond a settlement a few clicks west of here. Whatever it was that tripped the alarm, it’s not here anymore.” Kim knew she was grumbling, but she hated when things like this happened. 

“Control received. Are you heading back now?” Khek questioned

“I’m going to do one final sweep of the area and teleport back. I’ll inform you before I do.” The black lightning ranger scanned the landscape around her, deciding to do a quick look around the village in case whatever had set the scanners off went that way. 

“Are you going to the village?” a voice asked from behind her, startling Kimberly. 

She turned on her heel, glad that the helmet made it so he wasn’t able to see the reaction on her face. The boy the voice came from had skin that was a deep red with a marking that looked like burned stone on the lower right part of his face. Curled around his eye was a symbol, one that looked oddly familiar, she just couldn’t put her finger on why. His eyes were striking, a bright acid green that looked off putting when paired with the red tone. He looked young, barely older than six or seventeen she thought.

“Where did you come from?” Kimberly asked, curious as she hadn’t seen him walking near her

“Oh here and there.” His tone was playful, almost teasing as he took a bite of the fruit that was in his left hand.

“Do you live in the village?” She wondered, hoping he might be able to tell her what was going on

“No, but you shouldn’t go there. Something evil happened there.” He takes another bite of his fruit, his smile making her a little nervous

“Exactly why the Galactic Council sent me here.” Kimberly’s tone is sarcastic without her even noticing “You stay here, I’ll go check it out.” The former pink ranger turns and starts to walk away, intending to approach the village on foot so as to get a better assessment of what’s going on.

“I wouldn’t go there pink ranger.” the boy calls out, stopping her dead in her tracks.

A lot of people knew Zordon’s original pink ranger worked for the Galactic Council. Not many knew exactly which color or team she was actually part of. Anyone who may have known that the black lightning ranger, Earth’s original pink ranger, and the Lady Crane were all the same person were not standing behind her. Kimberly whipped around, fists raised.

“How did you find out?” She questioned, tone dripping with acid

The boy fully smiles now, showing the pointed teeth. “Oh come now Kimberly, we’re old friends.” his tone is chiding, even going so far as to wag a finger at her

“I think I'd remember a kid like you.” she snarks back at him, head turning over her shoulder to look at the village

“Don’t go looking you won’t like what you find.” Zedd smiles at the ranger, knowing that it will be impossible for her to ignore taking the bait. 

Kimberly rolls her eyes and decides to say screw going on foot, resting her hands on the belt of her uniform and teleporting into the direct center of the village. 

The boy, whoever he was, had been right. 

There was no monster there, but something evil had happened here. Kimberly had seen a lot since becoming a ranger, but nothing matched the carnage in front of her. Not one of the villagers had been spared, all of their bodies lying maimed on the ground. When she looked down, blood was running like a twisted river past her boot covered feet.

“I told you you wouldn’t like what you found pink ranger.” The boy was suddenly there, finishing the last bite of his fruit and smiling among the terrible scene.

“Did you do this?” her voice shook with rage, vision clouding just a slight bit red as she stared at the red skinned boy. Her bow was in her hand without having to call out for it, knocking an arrow before she really knew what she was doing.

“Now where is the fun in telling you that?” The boy let out a laugh, a musical thing that made Kim sick with rage. 

She let the black arrow fly but the boy was suddenly gone as quickly as he had appeared. She waited as minutes ticked by and he never reappeared before calling back up to the ship.

“Control I’ve got a mass casualties situation, I’m going to need a team down here.” She could deal with figuring out the who of the boy later, her priority right now had to be the villagers he had killed, making sure that they were buried according to their traditions and properly sent off.  There would be time for her to peel herself out of her uniform, curl up in the corner of a blistering hot shower and cry for these people who had been innocent later. She would cry for the fact she had not been able to save them, that in all likely hood the boy had killed them to draw her out. 

  
And then she would find him and destroy him, just like all the other evil she had come up against before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The goal for this story is that i'll be updating just about every three days or so. As of right now it looks like there will be about two chapters until the rangers are all together again! Hope you're enjoying! As always Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!


	5. Gladiator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason breaks a chair, Billy as usual is getting stuff done, Kim goes back to Angel Grove and Andros is way to old for this shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I said I was keeping the update schedule to three days but for some reason the Angel Grove section gave me so much trouble. I am honestly still very unhappy with it and it's so short because eventually after the 5th rewrite i decided I was just putting it in there to get this chapter out. Please be kind, I'm sorry that section is terrible.

_ “So it’s true, when all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love.”― E.A. Bucchianeri _

##  **Scott Apartment, New York City, Planet Earth- Sector Six**

Trini Scott very rarely called out sick from work, able to count the number of times she had done so in the past five years on one hand with fingers left over.It worked to her advantage in that her husband didn’t in any way question the cough that had sprung up out of seemingly nowhere, nor the fever that she refused his offer to get the thermometer for him to check. His alarms would have been raised if she had told him she needed to take the day off but couldn’t share with him the why of it. The instincts of the Power Rangers original leader died hard. 

Kimberly had been the unspoken ghost between them all since the Turbo switch. The first yellow ranger could remember with stunning clarity the angry phone call she had gotten from Zack only a few weeks after Jason had come home from Angel Grove. Their friend had been trying to get a call through to her after what had happened, wanting to check up on her after being turned evil and talk about the Olympics the year before, but the number he had for her was suddenly out of service, and when he had made contact with her mother, thanks to a number his mother had, Caroline had gently informed him that Kimberly had actually forbidden her mother to give out her new number to any of her old friends. It had been a blow and the first in a year long series of every one of them trying every fathomable way to contact her possible. Jason had even taken a trip to France to try and surprise her, but Caroline had told him that Kimberly moved out and hadn’t told her mother where she had moved too. 

For her to suddenly have been only a few streets down taking on monsters would not be something that could be handled without at least first feeding Jason a full blown feast. Not only would the food coma and a little bit of wine make him more mellow, but it would hopefully ensure he couldn’t go running off to try and find her. 

So Trini waits about a half hour after her husband has left to throw off the blankets and collect herself. She’ll spend the rest of her day turning the simple ingredients that her mother used to grow in their backyard into comfort food. 

When Jason lets himself into his apartment building after a particularly long day, his sensitive nose is assaulted with the smells of his wife’s home cooking. The man couldn’t help being surprised since when he left her this morning she was very sick and laying on the couch, not in any mood to be cooking the complex dishes he could smell. 

“Okay who died?” he said half jokingly as he walked through the door of the apartment, eyebrows raised as he looked around their kitchen. The last time his wife had stress cooked to this extent, had been when Zordon was killed during the Countdown. 

“Go get changed and then sit down. We have to talk.” The tone of her voice leaves no room for argument and in true Red fashion, he stands stock still, the door closing softly behind him.

“What happened, Trini? Is it my mom?” he keeps his voice level, even as his hands shake slightly. Last year, Ramona Scott beat her long struggle with breast cancer, and he could only assume that the dire tone in his wife’s voice and the stress cooking was because it had come back. 

“Firebird surfaced” she said quietly, almost mournfully

His eyes widen in stunned confusion, feeling like he had just been stabbed through the chest. The stress cooking, the mournful sound of her voice, and his experience as a cop in one of New York City’s worst precincts lead him to only one conclusion; someone had found her body. He hadn’t watched the news that day, there had been too many calls and too much work but Jason is sure if he turned it on now there would be some news anchor talking about a dead Olympic gymnast. “Where did they find her?” He asks softly, his knees threatening to give way as he voices the long held fear among them all.

“It was about four days ago. On seventh avenue. Aisha caught the video and managed to download it before whichever powerful friends of hers had it scrubbed. Brought it to Justin to verify that night then brought it to me yesterday. You’re the first one to know.” her tone stays even as she explains it to him, knowing that her calm will only help to hopefully keep him calm.

“Wait Tiger are you saying she’s alive?” His confusion is greater now, anger starting to bubble hot and fast. 

His wife opens the laptop that was sitting on the counter, pulling up a file and then turns it around so he can see it. She presses play and at first he’s not entirely sure what he’s watching. Jason gripped the top of the breakfast bar chair closest to him, using it to steady himself as he watched it all play out. His grip was so tight that he could feel the metal start to give way under his impressive strength, face starting to tingle with his signature color. Rage like the volcano he had been thrown into on Muranthis boils over 

“Fucking bitch.” he swore, tossing the chair to the ground and surprising not only his wife but himself as well. He stood for a moment in shock, staring down at the chair before finally looking up at her, tears shining unshed in his eyes. 

“It’s okay, baby.” Trini assured him once she had crossed the room and wrapped her slim arms around his broad shoulders. “Just let it out.” she coaxed him, trying to rationalize that there had to be a good reason for what Kimberly had done, wanting to believe that the girl who had been her best friend on the planet wouldn’t do this for no reason. 

  
  


##  **Blue Wolf Technologies Headquarters, San Francisco, California, Sector Six**

  
  


Billy Cranston was not a man prone to anger or violent outbursts of frustration; it was just not in his makeup. He was therefore unaccustomed to the overwhelming rage that sped through him at the video’s implication. He had mourned her heavily upon his return to earth; Kimberly had been his first friend after all. One of his first actual memories had been with the shorter girl, playing in the backyard of her parents house as their mothers sat and talked. She had fought off playground bullies for him, offering her hand to help him up and demanding that she come play hopscotch with her, glaring at anyone who dared look at her best friend the wrong way. She had been the one to introduce him to Trini, to Jason and to Zack. There would be no tight knit group, probably no Power Rangers without Kim to have brought them all together. 

When his mother had started to get sick just a year before they were first given their powers it had been the pink ranger that had been at his house almost every day, spending time with his mother, picking up take out and sometimes just sitting quietly doing homework with him. When she died a year and a half later, in the middle of them being brand new superheroes, his first friend stayed at his house for a week straight, consoling him when he finally broke down. 

The video scrub had been the most curious part of the whole thing, it wasn’t easy and as much as he believed she could do anything she set her mind to, something of this magnitude was out of the Kimberly he had known depth. It was technology they didn’t really have here on the planet outside of his R&D lab or a ranger headquarters. 

“Master Wolf?” Delphine’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts, her teasing use of the honorific he hated causing him to roll his eyes. “I assume you did not just call to stare into space.”

“Who would have the ability to scrub a video feed from Earth based technology?” He asked, watching her face for any indications that maye she had known about it happening. 

“There are a few different worlds with this technology. The Morphin Council would be able to sanction it, if it was in the interest of protecting the Morphin Grid or any rangers. So would of course, the Galactic Council.” Delphin chose her words carefully, head tilting as she wondered to herself about the rumor that Zordon’s original pink was working for the Galactic Council. 

‘I can’t imagine either Council wanting to scrub something like this Delphine.” he had met the council member for the galaxy that Aquitar resided in a handful of times he had been on the planet, even attending a council session to be able to meet with the council member for his home galaxy, and odd man from the planet Juipter who had taken great pleasure in explaining how the galactic government worked. 

“Would this by chance involve the pink ranger who came before Katherine?” the white ranger finally ventured to ask

The former blue ranger tilted his head at the woman who had acted as a surrogate mother to him while he had lived on her planet. “How did you know that?” He questioned

“There’s been a rumor around for a good amount of years now that Zordon’s first pink ranger has been working for the Galactic Council. No one I know knows in what capacity or if it’s even true. It could however, explain what you’re asking.” She smiles encouragingly at him, wishing she could be there to give him a hug, the sadness and strange almost rage emanating from his eyes and body concerning her.

“So if she for instance wanted a video of herself accessing her ninjette powers scrubbed, the Council would approve it?” Billy’s eyebrow raised in question

“To my knowledge it would have to be one of the more senior members, the Grand Councilman himself or have come from the Morphin Council. I will endeavor to try and find out more about this Billy.” She would start with Cestra, who worked closely with their Council representative. 

“I appreciate your assistance Delphine. May the Power protect you.” The intoned blessing was something Billy had become used to saying when parting from other rangers, be it current or former, when he lived on the water based planet. He had found it comforting in his departure from Earth.

“May the Power protect you as well my friend.” He signed off, a heavy sigh flowing from his lips as he thought of the implication of the information he had learned and how best to share it with the group. 

  
  
  
  


##  **Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo, Monitoring Control Room**

  
  


“You know Doverian, I’m starting to think it’s you tripping these alarms just to see more of me.” Jayden teased the other man as he trailed the rest of the team into the control room

“While I’m sure you’d like to believe that Red Ranger, I am otherwise romantically engaged.” The gold skinned Captain snarked at his friend

“Watching Jay failing to flirt with the good captain is generally amusing, but we were told this was a priority one.” It’s Kenale that speaks Kimberly’s thought into words

“You asked to be informed of any more attacks with the bio signature from Gratha or in Sector Six Grand Commander?” Doverian looked at her, Kim’s cheeks still turning pink even years after being given the title. It had been Andros’s idea to name her Grand Commander of the Outpost Ships, putting all 28 of the ships that were currently in orbit under her command. She rotated the different teams between the ships based on where there were conflicts or more frequent surges of activity, oversaw their training and the new rangers assignments. There were a host of below her that did more of the day to day work on each ship and reported in too her daily. 

“Did something happen?” She questioned, hand twitching

“More of those Tengu and a being known as Goldar according to the computer. Their strength and energy reading are significantly higher than what was listed into the Morphin Council’s files on them. They’re in a town called Angel Grove this time.” Doverian gave the information as he pulled up the live video feed.

“Significant enough that we’re going to need to morph?” Kim asked, hopeful that this could be a very quick battle

“According to the computer analysis, it’s predicting your current powers may not be enough to handle Goldar.” Doverian hadn’t seen many beings like this before, a pit of worry for his friends forming in his stomach.

“Ahh that’s never stopped a Power Ranger before Dove.” Jayden replies, remembering the stories his father had told him about the Earth bound rangers that had taken on the Zeo powers. 

“We’ll go in morphed. You five deal with the Tengu and leave Goldar to me.” There isn’t room for argument in their black ranger's tone. 

“Kim you have got to be kidding. Are you seeing the readings on that guy?” Kenale wasn’t normally one to question his team leaders orders, but she had been acting weird ever since the encounter on Earth, heighted only by whatever terrible thing she had seen on Gratha. Kim was an incredible fighter but he worried whatever emotional issues she had going on were going to throw her off her game. 

“That monkey and I have an old score to settle.” Kimberly lifts her morpher, signaling the rest of the group that she’s ready for them to get in position. She knew if her friends were able to see her now, they probably wouldn’t believe the ranger she had become. She loved Tommy from the moment she laid eyes on him, and if she was honest even after everything he had done, she still loved him, but she had diminished herself for him. Before Tommy had joined the team she had been an adequate fighter on her own, but after she had begun to let herself be the helpless pink princess, always needing to be saved by her white knight. She hadn’t noticed it until years later when she looked back on it, and she knows that Tommy had never meant for it to happen. They had been teenagers caught between the things regular teens did and being mature for their age superheroes who fought a three year long war together. Kimberly never wanted to be that damsel in distress ever again. So along with the heightened sense and enhanced strength she had kept from the Maligore Incident, she trained harder than she ever had. It made her an effective fighter and positive that she could go up against Goldar on her own. Jason and Tommy hadn’t been able to be the ones to make sure that overgrown flying monkey was destroyed, but she would. For all the hell he had put the ten of them through, for all the night terrors and anxiety he had caused them. 

  
  
  


##  **Angel Grove Park, Angel Grove, California-Sector Six**

  
  


When their boots touched dirt, there were already people running away from the monsters. Kim nods at her team, watching as they run to get people to safety and draw the Tengus attention away from the civilians. Kim calls on her bow, knocking two arrows and letting them both fly at where Goldar was swinging around his large gem inlaid sword. They landed on the ground in front of him which gave her enough time to let off two more arrows aimed at his armor. She gulped inwardly when they caused him to barely stumble backwards. Flipping forward so that she was in a closer proximity to the monster she shot off one more arrow as her body moved through the flip. 

“You should have stayed ash monkey breath!” Kim called out loudly, his attention now completely focused on her

“You’re not the Rangers I was expecting, but no matter killing you will bring her out of hiding.” Goldar taunts her, his pointed teeth smiling. 

Kim snorts, eyes rolling under her helmet and wishing the monkey could see it “What’s the matter Monkey Man? A change of color and a few deaths make you forget all about me?” 

“Pink ranger!” he growls at her, stalking forward and swinging out with the sword. Kimberly flips backwards and out of the way, drawing back her bow and letting off another arrow. 

“Kenale” She called out, eyeing the white rangers longsword. The white ranger turned to her, tossing the hilt of his weapon as he watched her black and white bow come out of her hand. Her hand wrapped around the hilt, spinning the blade as much to put some distance as to reacquaint herself with the weight of the blade. Kim struck out at the monster that had haunted her teenage years, telegraphing the thrust so that she could get used to his style of combat. The pair began trading blows back and forth, and Kimberly inwardly has a moment of intense fear. She hadn’t been the one to face off with Goldar alone more than once or twice, but she could tell he was light years stronger than he had been back then. Her memory pulls up Dove’s warning about the computer analytic oc their powers now being enough and she pushes herself to press forward; thrusting and parrying with all her strength behind them. 

One of Andros’s favorite things to point about why she had been given command of the other ranger teams had been the experience she brought to putting together training regiments. She had lived through three years of a constant tour of duty, that included near daily monster attacks. It wasn’t something that any of the current council teams or the veterans rangers who trained the teams would have had to deal with before. Kim had been adamant that every member of the team knew how to use every teammate's weapons not just because they never knew when something could happen, but it made sure that everyone on the team was an equal fighter. She didn’t think it served the team well to have a member who always needed to be protected. 

Kim’s thrown back a half hour into their fight, body hitting the ground hard, her morph receding and leaving her plain clothed and vulnerable to Goldar’s attacks.

“Your team can’t save you now Kimmy! They’re in too much trouble dealing with my new master’s Tengu!” Goldar laughed, sword raised high above his head as he stalked toward her.

The former pink ranger struggles to her feet, annoyance blooming in her chest at the thought of needing to be saved from the likes of Goldar. Her hand went behind her back, feeling the morpher materialize like an anchor. Her thumb runs across the face, surprised to find a coin that shouldn’t be there. “Pink Ranger Power.” she called out, thrusting the morpher forward. Just like when she called on the ninja powers, the world slowed down for the few seconds after she called it out. Then pink exploded all around her and she felt the rush of power, the screech of the crane louder than it had ever been. “I don’t need saving from you Goldar.” She sneered at him, inwardly whooping with joy when the silent call for her Power Bow yielded the actual weapon. She knocked the first arrow and let it fly, watching in satisfaction as this time, the monkey was sent stumbling back.

The golden armored monkey smiled at her, sharp pointed teeth showing. “Until next time pink ranger.” he promised

And then just as quickly and strangely as they appeared Goldar and the Tengu were gone, leaving a lone pink ranger and the Alpha Strike team to wonder what had been the point. 

  
  
  


##  **Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo, Kimberly’s Office**

Kimberly hasn’t felt this tired in a long ass time. The fight with Goldar had taken so much out of her that all she wanted to do was take a long hot shower and then crawl into bed. She keys in the code for her office door, annoyed for the first time that the room was connected to her living area and then her bedroom. A startled yelp fills the room as she sees Andros sitting at her desk, looking grim and brooding.

“Do I want to know why you’re sulking in my office?” Kim asks, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Oh does she have a headache.

“The fight was a distraction.” the red space ranger tells her, voice tight

“A distraction for what Andros? I’m too fucking tired for your cryptic bullshit.” She snaps at him without meaning too, the overwhelming emotion of the day leaving her temper short and hot

“We don’t know who he was before, except that the boy from Gratha is the new Zedd. He sent Goldar to fight you to keep our attention there while he broke into where Xandred and Mystic Mother hid the staff and just walked out with it.” 

Now her friend sitting in her office brooding made sense. She had been right, voicing her concern about them being the ones to protect it instead of turning it over to either of the governing councils to vault. Kim slams her fist down into the table, pink energy rippling from where her hand had connected. 

“Alpha Strike and I will get on it first thing in the morning. I’m gonna kill this little bastard and end this, once and for all.” she promised, hoping to get her boss out of her quarters so she could get some rest.

“The Morphin Council wants me to inform them. Thinks it’s important for them to know just in case Zedd decides to fixate on one of them” Privately he thinks Zedd already has a ranger to fixate on, but he hadn’t wanted to tell the Council that just yet.

“I’ll do it.” she offers without thinking “Set up the call, let them think it’s going to be with you. Tomorrow morning Earth time.” If it’s her who tells them, she can keep them out of this and keep them away from her. 

“You don’t have to do that Kim.” Andros offers, face softening at her offer to throw herself to the wolves

“Nah it’s fine. Maybe they’ll be so shocked at seeing me they’ll be too distracted to try and coming running in to help.” She shrugs, dropping her uniform jacket down on the chair opposite from where the other ranger is sitting. 

“Yeah somehow I doubt that. But if you’re sure, I’ll set it.” He stands as he speaks, watching her with curious eyes

“I’m sure Andros. Set it up and let me know the time. I’m gonna go shower and get some sleep in.” A look passes over her face and he thinks that maybe she’s about to say something else when she shakes her head and turns away, disappearing deeper into the quarters. He wondered about Kim and her relationship with the members of her old team that he had met over the years. None of them had mentioned a missing member of their team and it had always struck him as odd. Someone wasn’t telling him something and he had a very bad feeling it was going to come back to kick him in the ass. 


	6. Black Sheep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kim's ship gets crashed by her old friends, a wrench gets thrown in Kim's plan to take on Zedd and nothing is exactly what we think it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few notes:
> 
> I had initially planned a chapter that would be before all of this, but decided that it didn't really make a whole ton of sense and so we skipped along.
> 
> I know next to nothing about military protocol and I did do a bit of research about it but if I got things wrong and if it sounds terrible I'm incredibly sorry.

_ “It's the worst part of seeing old friends: when your rose-colored memories become undone by reality.” ― Brad Meltzer _

##  **Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo**

  
  


BEEP-BEEP-BEEP BEEP

Kimberly groaned turning over in her bed to all but slam down her hand on the com device, shutting off the incessant beeping noise. It would be the third time since coming back from Earth her sleep had been interrupted and she was getting less and less amused as they happened. The first had been only an hour after she had climbed into her bed, body feeling better after taking what could only be classed as the longest bath known to man. The attacks her team had put a stop to a month earlier on Tarmac 3 had begun again. They knew the people, the attackers and the terrain so she decided that even though her team had just been sent out, they would have to go again. She hadn’t been asleep long and people’s safety came first so she had groaned for effect, morphed and done her job. The second time had been a much longer and far more arduous event. The Morphin Council wanted a full debrief on what had happened with the Staff of Zedd, her fight in Angel Grove and her full reconnection to the ninja powers. After what seemed like hours of round robin debating and even in some points arguing, they had agreed to let Kim’s team handle the mission. Directly after she had stood in the control room to debrief her old team, which had gone over like a house on fire. They had of course wanted to help and maybe Kim had taken a little too much pleasure in telling Tommy that in no uncertain terms they were not to do anything. Her team would handle finding the staff and destroying Zedd. The screaming started basically from the second she stopped talking, the cacophony of it making it nearly impossible to make out what anyone was saying. Doverian had cut the her end of the feed, looking a little stunned at what he had just seen. Kimberly had told him she was going to take a nap and that the whole universe better be under attack for someone to wake her again.

“This is Kim.” she spoke into the receiver, a yawn cutting into the middle of her name

“I’m sorry to have woken you ma’am but your team has just been cleared for docking, I thought you might want to know before anyone starts showing them around the ship.” Lieutenant Khek sounded almost scared to give her the news

Kim looked at the offending piece of technology strangely, unsure of where her team would have gone without them alerting her as well. Generally when something less than a priority one but higher than a priority three hit the control room on any of the ships, she was called to confirm the team deployment and Alpha Strike never deployed for something less than a priority three. Muting the general communicator and activating her personal communicator Kim wondered what kind of trouble Akhuti might have gotten the others into.

“Alpha Strike report in with location.” she demanded, annoyance rising with each confirmation that all of her teammates were either in their rooms or in the team common area. Throwing off her blankets she wondered who would in the hell would think a prank like this was funny. She was going to make sure whoever the hell was behind it was court martialed at the very least. 

“Khek I thought I told Dove not to bother me. The alpha strike team is all accounted for.” Kimberly was all but shuffling into the control room, having not bothered to change out of her black sleep shorts and pale pink tank top or brush through her long brown hair.

“I’m sorry ma’am I should have specified.” Khek was pointing at the live video feed coming from the main reception area in the docking bay

“You have got to be fucking kidding me” Kimberly swore “How the hell did they get docking clearance let alone get brought inside the damn ship?” 

The video showed the other eleven of Zordon’s chosen rangers standing in the main reception area of her ship, talking to the deck captain who looked half in awe, half terrified.

“They were allowed to dock based on the codes loaded into the ship they came in on. It’s Kerovian and looks like it holds a space team clearance code. The deck captain let them board once they identified themselves.” The Lieutenant in front of her was reading the information off the logs from the docking control station and Kim swore again out loud. Of course that same reverence that was given to her would be extended to her old team, Tommy especially as he carried Zordon’s color. The pink ranger rubbed the bridge of her nose, considering her options. 

“I’m going to go down there. Have the rooms on Deck C prepped just in case.” An idea was forming in her head as she considered how this may play out. She had started to walk out of the room, turning over her shoulder to look at the dark skinned man. “Oh and Khek, get a quiet notice down to the deck, and then the rest of the crew, let them know it’s going to be full pomp until all of them are off my ship.” 

Kim had never been one for the military dress code or the ceremony that surrounded it. She had gotten used to the ma’am after a little while, but she made it a point to only let them get away with the saluting and calling her by her full title unless there were important visitors around. After years of running the ship she had finally gotten the crew used to the relaxed rules and Kim was able to call most, if not all of the crew friends. But her friends didn’t know that and if they were going to crash her ship she was going to have fun with them. 

Once back in her rooms she didn’t bother with a shower, even a quick one wasn’t feasible because who knew when her friends would get to restless and start searching the ship for her. Instead she pulled her hair up into a tight, neat bun. She skipped over the make up, even though the vain valley girl that still lived inside her was dying to throw on some lipstick and concealer knowing she’d be seeing Tommy again. Kim couldn’t help the chuckle when she pulled out her uniform, something she barely ever wore. It was dressy, showy and going to make one hell of an impression. The pants and boots went on easily, plain black piped with both a lighter shade of black and pink. The jacket was also mainly black, with accents of gold on the cuffs and in the three evenly spaced at the bottom. It was long enough that it fell below her knee, with a high necked mandarian collar. On the left breast was the crest of the Galactic Council with the crest of the Royal House of Eltar next to it, denoting her status as one of Zordon’s rangers. The shoulders denoted her rank and the piping that ran along the sleeves, the overlapping closure of the jacket, collar and the edgeding of the belt that held it closed were done in the same shades of black and pink as her boots and pants. Kim used the general communicator to send a coded message down to the docking deck that she was on her way down. 

  
  


It was hard for Kimberly to place the odd feeling in her stomach she felt as she walked through the halls, even if she smiled every time someone stopped and saluted her as she walked by. There were nerves for sure; her friends were going to be angry at her and she couldn’t totally blame them. It had been a terrible idea to cut them all off the way she had, even if she had felt like she wasn’t one of them any more. After everything that happened with Tommy and then Maligore she hadn’t been able to handle it. What made it all the worse is that no one seemed to care, they all just accepted tha Kat had replaced her whole heartedly. Or at least to the emotionally fragile, barely over eighteen year old Kimberly it had seemed that way. It hadn’t been the right decision, she knew that as an adult, but as a teenager with a broken heart it had made sense. There wasn’t going back from it and like she told Dulcea, she had to lie in that bed she made. Kim was also self aware enough to know that while there was remorse for doing what she did, she carried an incredible anger at them all. Anger, that had simmered for so long she was sure it was going to explode sooner rather than later. Anger that they thought she needed their help after she had flat out told them that she and her current team would handle it. Anger that they thought just crashing the party was okay. Anger about things long since done and over with.

“Deck Company, Attention.” She heard the Deck Captain call out as she neared the doorway, the footsteps of her boots carrying sound. 

Kimberly did her best to set her face in a look of stern unhappiness, hands clasped behind her back as she walked through the door inwardly enjoying the look of shock and confusion as each crew member saluted.

“At ease everyone.” she instructed, striding over to where the Deck Captain stood. “Deck Captain Nevanak could you please review for me and the rest of the deck crew the boarding procedure for civilian’s and visitors without specific clearance?” She questioned, stern face all but glaring at Nevanak

“Of course Grand Commander.” He nodded at her, doing a good job of looking nervous.“Anyone without boarding clearance codes must first be authorized by the Grand Commander.”

Kim nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment. “Then may I ask why there are eleven civlians currently standing on the other side of the deck? I don’t remember being woken up to approve this.” her voice took on a harder edge.

Nevanak looked even more nervous now and when his voice came out it was in a near stutter, Kim was going to have to give him a raise for his performance. “They identified themselves as the rangers who had served under Zordon with you. They said you were expecting their arrival ma’am.” 

Kim raised a brow, turning on her heel to glare at her old team. “Is that true?” She questioned harshly

They all nodded together, still apparently too stunned to speak. Kim wanted to throw things, or punch one of them in their stupid faces. Preferably her ex-boyfriend or big brother whose idea this surely was.

“Company dismissed. Deck Captain I expect to see you in my office for disciplinary action after my return from ship inspection.” She waited until they all saluted and filed out, the door shutting with a hiss behind the still fearful looking Nevanak. Kim rubbed the bridge of her nose, the headache she had increasing tenfold. “Do you have any idea how absolutely stupid what you just did was? Not to mention the mountain of paperwork Andros and I are going to have to do ” She questioned, voice dangerously low. 

“What else were we supposed to do?” Zach implored of her, voice at the same time terribly sad and terribly angry.

“What you were told is a good place to start! You broke at least six galactic laws, and that’s just off the top of my head! This isn’t like showing up at my apartment after the 97 games with no warning, this ship is a military installation. Does the Kerovian government even know this is what you borrowed one of their ships for? If you were anyone else I'd have to put you all in prison but the incident that would cause isn't worth the headache! ” She rolled her eyes, feeling like this was reminiscent of one of her and Jason’s arguments as children. She would end up explaining something incredibly obvious to a stubborn, bull headed Jason. 

“After your little video call this morning you left us no choice Kimberly Ann. We can’t let some untrained team go after this new guy calling himself Zedd and we couldn’t just not come find you” Jason crossed his arms over his chest, his universal symbol for “i’m right and you’re wrong.”

“Oh I’m sorry are you feeling a little bit left out Jason?” Kimberly all but snarls at him. “Were you and Tommy just so damn offended that instead of needing you to sweep in and save the day I very clearly don’t. That I’m just so helpless and unable to assess the situation that you thought you know what screw what Kim said, let’s hijack a spacecraft, track down a woman who clearly doesn’t want to be found and crash her damn place of work? I told you my team will handle this! It’s our job and it was the Morphin Council’s decision to allow it! Now I have had a very long week, I’ve fought a golden monkey who was supposed to be toast twice over, reconnected to powers that are so old they shouldn’t work and dealt with all of you crashing my nap. I am tired, I am cranky and I have an inspection of a nearby ship very early tomorrow. So you can stay the night if you want and in the morning when I get back I want you all back home on Earth!” her voice climbed louder and louder until she was yelling by the end of her triade 

Trini steps forward, smiling softly at her best friend hands up placatingly “We’re sorry Firebird. Emotions are obviously running very high and I think it would be best if we took you up on that offer and everyone got some sleep.” Her tone is soothing, stepping on Jason's foot as he goes to protest. 

“I’ll send one of my Captains down to show you up to Deck C. There’s enough room up there for all of you. I understand that Zedd makes all of us a little twitchy but my team and I have everything well under control. You can all go home and back to your lives. This whole thing will be over quick enough” Kim walks over to the communications panel and sends a message up to Khek, waiting for the confirmation before walking out of the room without another word to her old friends. 

The eleven rangers left in the room look at each other, slightly stunned at the events of the past fifteen minutes. 

“Well that went well.” Aisha commented drly, leaning against a piece of paneling that didn’t seem to have any buttons on it. 

“Went better than I was expecting it to.” Justin said with a dry laugh, drawing all eyes to him

“How much worse did you expect that to go?” Tanya questioned the younger blue ranger, eyebrow raised. The only time she had met Kim was during the first days of the Turbo run and she hadn’t been all that impressed with the original pink ranger. She had been aloof and somewhat withdrawn and her best friend Kat had been a ball of nerves and worry about her boyfriend deserting her because his ex was back. 

“Well we’re not in prison for whatever laws we broke. And there wasn’t a physical fight.” Justin winces at the glare Tommy sends him, but then shrugs because really what can his surrogate big brother say when Justin’s right.

“Billy, was she bluffing about the broken laws thing?” Tommy asks the only one of them with Galactic experience. 

“I don’t think so. One of the insignias on her uniform was for the Galactic Council. Coupled with the fact that she said this was a military installation, then I think it’s almost for sure she was telling the truth.” He explained, wondering about the coloring and the second insignia on her chest

“I thought SPD was the galactic police force?” Adam questioned, brow raised as he thought about Bridge, the red ranger he had met during his time helping out the Overdrive team

“They are. Think of SPD and the GC as our earth police forces and military forces. Our planet is somewhat of an outlier, most others don’t experience the yearly attacks that warrant a ranger team like we do at home. And most planets either don’t have a strong enough connection to sustain long term ranger teams or don’t see the need. The Galactic Council employs teams of rangers throughout the eight known galaxies and traditionally deals with whatever is needed. I’ve been a little too far out of the loop to understand the why of SPD beyond how they handle something different from what Council teams do.” Billy shrugged not sure what else he could say without all of the relevant information.

“I don’t think we should be asking too many more questions tonight.” Aisha suggested, trying to grapple with seeing her best friend and the severe way she had looked. There were a lot of scenarios that she had run through, but Kim as some sort of space military commander had not been one of them. She leaned into Rocky, who had come over to wrap an arm around her shoulders.

“It’s not terrible to want answers Sha.” Tommy ran a hand through his hair, which he had started regrowing after the end of the Dino Thunder run. It was back to being just about the length he had worn it in high school, something his students turned rangers turned slightly surrogate children liked to tease him about. 

“I want answers just as much as you do Fly Boy, maybe even more. But I also remember what a severely pissed off Kim is like and I don’t think trying to weasel information out of anyone else is going to do anything other than make her more mad.” She rolled her eyes at him waiting for a rebuttal.

The door hissed open, ending the conversation. The man in the doorway tilted his head at them, the unsettling merlot color of his eyes studying them intensely. Tommy locked eyes with the man feeling like he was assessing them all off this one interaction and had found them wanting.

“You’re the Captain Kimberly said she would be sending down.” Katherine questioned quietly 

“Yes I’m Captain Doverian. I run the main control room and work directly under the Grand Commander. She instructed you to be shown up to C Deck. If you could please follow me.” His hands were clasped behind his back, waiting only a beat before beginning to lead them out of the room and through the low lit hallways. 

“If you work so closely with her how’d you end up being our personal usher. Shouldn’t that have been a grunts job” Jason asked moodily, drawing glares from all three yellow rangers

The gold skinned man took a deep breath, thinking to himself if this is what the members of Kim’s old team were like all the time no wonder she had gotten galaxies away from them. “You are honored guests after all Sir, and while normally a high ranking officer wouldn’t be woken from his sleep Deck C is where the Alpha Strike rangers sleep as well. A specific clearance level is required and the Grand Commander has gone to sleep so it was left to me.” 

“We appreciate you taking the time to do this for us.” Trini said diplomatically

“It is of course my pleasure.” His tone was pleasant even if he was imagining strangling his friend for asking him to do this

“Could I ask you a question Captain?” Justin piped up from in the back of the group, ducking under the arm that Tanya swatted out at him

“If I am able to answer it I will.” he nodded, curious of what the question could be. 

“There was a second badge on Kim’s uniform. Do you know what it stands for?” Justin was immensely curious about it, since Billy hadn’t explained it like he had the Galactic Council one. 

Doverian stopped dead in his tracks, sure that if he turned around and looked at the younger blue ranger his incredulation would show on his bronze face. Kimberly hadn’t fully understood until he and Andros explained it to her during the early months of her career as the Alpha Strike black ranger. It was before her promotion to Grand Commander and she was frustrated by the fact everyone treated her like royalty. There had been a rather large amount of swearing about the use of the word ma’am and the saluting that happened every time she walked by someone. But surely the Wolf, who had spent so much time on Aquitar knew and had explained it to the others. The Hercuron shook his head, realizing his pause was going to be questioned very soon. “I’m sorry, I thought I heard my com beep.” He shook himself off and began walking again, taking a deep breath. If they didn’t know they were royalty to the rest of the universe, he didn’t have to treat them as such. “The Grand Commander’s personal badge is her own business.” He told them, his tone curt as he walked a little faster now. The sooner he was away from them and back in his own bed, the better. 

  
  


He’s physically relieved for them finally showing up at the doorway to Deck C only a few minutes later. Doverian keys in the code and shows them the common area and explains how many rooms are on the floor before hastily putting as much distance between himself and the other rangers. He wonders if Kim’s awake, questions swirling around in his head that he can’t wait until tomorrow to ask her. Turning to head towards where her quarters were, the gold skinned man decides that if he had to bite the bullet for her then the least she can do is tell him everything she can. 

  
  
  
  


Kim knows something is wrong when she steps off of the teleportation disk and Doverian and Khek are both standing there waiting for her in full dress uniform, saluting. 

“They’re not off my ship are they.” She questions drly, thinking that maybe having them dragged off by the Alpha Strike team isn’t such a terrible idea after all

“We have a much bigger issue Grand Commander.” Doverian tells her gulping down the lump in his throat.

Kimberly stops in her tracks, looking at the two men who have been her closest friends besides her ranger team. “I’m going to guess it has something to do with the uniforms and the saluting and the grand commandering?” She questions slowly

“The Morphin Council will be here within the half hour. They sent word that they’d like to speak with you and your former team about the Zedd situation.” Khek looks physically nervous now and it leaves Kimberly a little confused. The main Morphin Council had visited them numerous times and while it was stressful, it didn’t normally cause this level of anxiety. 

“Alright fine, a few more hours then. Did they say how many members of the council will be here?” Her mind shuffled through the available rooms with enough space to comfortable house the eleven of her old team plus the six main members of the council. 

“All of them ma’am.” Doverian delivers the news and now, now Kim gets it. The full Morphin Council rarely ever got together in person, let alone left from the scheduled planet that served as their base. Each member represented a color of the ranger spectrum and held within them the base of the power. It was thought that they were part of the Morphin Grid themselves, emissaries of the Grid who kept balance. To have all fourteen members coming here meant something huge was going on. And it wasn’t something she wanted to be a part of. 

“Okay Dove you go wrangle up my pseudo siblings and find a conference room big enough for all these people. Khek I want you to gather the Alpha Strike team, tell them what’s going on and get down on the deck ready to receive the Council in case they get here before I get down there. If they do bring them up to Dove and all of you wait there. I’m going to go run half away across the ship, shower, change and attempt to make myself presentable before they get here.” With one last nod at each man Kim takes off running through the halls of her ship, wishing not for the first time that she could use the ninja streak ability outside of being morphed. Even at the break neck speed of her run it still takes almost ten minutes to get across the ship and into her bathroom. She moves through the routine as efficiently as possible but a comm comes through as she’s pulling her hair back that the Council is here and being led up to the obersitory on Deck A. Kim groans and takes a breath, reminding herself that getting upset before she’s even gotten there is only going to make her more abrasive. She gave herself a few more breaths before returning to getting ready as quickly as she possibly could, teleporting herself up to the deck once she was finished, not wanting to waste anymore time. 

“I’m sorry for my delay, I had been on a different ship completing a routine inspection.” She excused herself to the council, surprised on her face when she noted that Andros, Mystic Mother and Zandred and a holographic projection of Dulcea were also in the room.

“We of course understand Lady Crane. Your duties as Grand Commander of the Outpost Ships keeps you busy.” Councilmember Ryaqb, who represented the Black Line of the Power assured her with a kind smile

“We were just explaining the Morphin Council to the others.” Andros explains, Kim wanting to laugh when she noticed he had positioned himself in the middle of the Apha Strike team and far away from Jason, Tommy and Rocky. 

“We are honored to receive all fourteen members at once.” it was Billy who voiced the platitude that had been on the tip of Kim’s tongue, reminding her of the time he spent on Aquitar

“New information has been brought to the Council’s decision that has caused us to reconsider our decision to send the Alpha Strike team after Zedd.” Councilman Gai, who represented the White Line of Power explained.

Kim was sure she looked ready to explode, her face heating up with anger. “If I may object, the Council made the decision to send the Alpha Strike team after a long debate which included people who are not currently here.” She held Gai’s gaze, thinking of Dimitera, Queen Zelriana and King Trey. 

“This information changes the nature of the original debate. It is not a question of the Alpha Strike’s capability to complete this mission.” Qamb, the willowy woman who represented the Pink Line of Power said in an attempt to gentle the information. She had a soft spot for the Crane, who was of her color even if her current powers were of Ryaqb. 

“What information?” Tommy cuts off Kim’s question, staring at the snow skinned man. 

“There is a prophecy that I found among the books where I first found the information about the Cult of Zedd. It says that the key to destroying the staff and the Cult’s power lay in twelve who would call upon the power of the ancients. They would be the only ones able to truly destroy the staff and defeat Zedd.” Xandred had been the one championing any team of Zordon’s rangers to go after the new Zedd. His ideal had been the Ninjette team, which he pointed out they now knew was possible because of Kim. The black ranger glared at him, wanting to scream about how he had suddenly found this prophecy after he had been decided against. 

“Power of the ancients?” Tanya questioned, eyes flitting between all of the assembled Concilmembers

“The Great Power that six of you claimed all those years ago was the power of the Ancient Ninjette, the first to ever hold the mantle of Power Rangers. They connected directly to the Grid, without the use of coins or any other conduit, so much so that when they died their life force fused with the Morphin energy of their animal spirits. It created the fourteen lines of power as we know them today” Dulcea stepped forward to explain.

“So why if there were fourteen then, are there only twelve of us?” Adam questioned

“The wielders destined for the Green and Crimson powers are dead. Until you all pass on into the Grid, there will be no one able to claim the power of the Dragon or the Eagle.” Priim, who was the head of the Green Line told them sadly, looking mournfully at Tommy. “It is a sad thing to lose one's blood before their time young Falcon, I am sorry not only for my line but for your loss.” She nodded to him, causing everyone to turn to look at him.

“Kelly and David?” He wondered, thinking of the twin sister who had been killed before he had been adopted by the Olivers and the long lost brother he had found and then lost to cancer only a few years ago.

“You are wise indeed Master Falcon.” Gai said with a slight bow in his direction

“So I’m assuming before we do anything else, a trip to Phadeos is going to have to be in order.” Kim commented dryly, drawing the attention back to the mission at hand. 

“I believe that will be the most wise Lady Crane.” the Mystic Mother said jovially, her white and pink headdress jingling. Kim sneered without really thinking about the consequences, she hated seeing the colors that she had come to associate with her and Tommy and all of the good parts of their relationship worn by Rita of all people.

“We thank the Morphin Council for their time and for their wise decision. I will help the Grand Commander prepare what needs to be done and the team will start on their mission as soon as possible.” Andros stands, unsure of how long Kim will be able to keep her composure now that Jason and Zack are shooting her smug looks. The last thing any of them need is an all out brawl in front of the Morphin Council. 

“And we thank you for your cooperation Grand Councilman.” Qamb said with an incline of her head, looking to the other members of her Council before they disappeared in flashes of light. 

  
  


Kim collapses back into her chair, hand resting on her head as she tries to massage the massive headache she could feel starting to form. 

“I will prepare for your arrival. Shall we agree on tomorrow?” Dulcea asked, eyes settled on the pink ranger

“Of course Dulcea. It will be good to see you again.” Adam speaks for the group, smiling up at the green clad woman

“It will be good to see you again too Frog Prince.” The master warrior smiled and then disappeared again. 

“Xandred, Mystic Mother, would you please inform the others of this decision? I am sure Queen Zelriana will be pleased to hear the news.” There is sarcasm dripping off the latter part of Andros sentence as he looks at the sandy haired man.

“I wouldn't want to be Gai when she finds out.” Xandred comments, causing even Kimberly to snort at her words. 

The last of the pair teleport out of the room, leaving just the two sets of rangers, Doverian and Khek in the room.

Kim flicks her wrist, removing the morpher from it and walking across the room to where her Captain is standing. 

“You have been my best friend since Andros dropped me on this ship. You never asked for it, but I’ve become a pretty good authority on what makes a good ranger over the years. I want you to have this. Kenale will take the leadership role on the team and I’ll be doing the paper work to have you promoted to Commander and take over the ship in my absence.” She placed the morpher in his hands, smiling at the way his deep eyes shined with tears. 

“Ma’am” he started to say, voice stuttering over thick throat

“Not anymore. We share a power which means I don’t care if I become the queen of Eltar and Phadeos, you call me Kim.” The slight woman leans forward and hugs him tightly, the rest of the assembled group watching silently. Katherine doesn’t know what to make of it. Maybe it had been her origins or maybe it was her attempts to steal Tommy but when Kim had passed her on the Power, it hadn’t felt tender or sweet. For weeks actually the power had felt...wrong almost. Like the Crane spirit was fighting back against someone other than Kimberly using it. Not that the blonde would have ever admitted it outloud, as the other five had been devastated by the destruction of the ninja powers, but Kat had almost been glad for the Zeo switch. Having powers that were solely hers had given her so much more confidence as a ranger. 

“Will you work something out with the Milky Way rep, get him to do whatever it is he’s supposed to do in a situation like this?” Kim questioned Andros, her head jerking in the direction of the other rangers.

“Yeah of course.” His head turns so that he’s now looking at his other friends seated around the table. “We’ll get together a brief for your jobs, one that doesn’t mention Power Rangers but mentions you’ll be doing some work for the Galactic Council. I should have that ready in a few hours.” 

“I have to go work out the paperwork for my absence, Doverian’s promotion and the transfer of leadership to Kenale. You all are welcome to stay another night on the ship. We’ll be leaving from the teleportation deck in the morning.” Kim turns on her heel, about to lead her crew and the Alpha Strike team out of the meeting room when she finds her way partially blocked by Tommy

“If we’re going to be a team again, we’re going to have to talk about the fact you disappeared on us.” He insisted, his patented leader tone in full effect.

“No one said we had to be a team again, just that we had to work together on the same team. I have a lot of work to get done if we’re leaving in the morning so get out of my way Tommy.” Kim didn’t even pretend civility anymore, over the way he especially seemed to think she owed him anything. He had some damn nerve after everything he put her through.

“Kim you owe us an explanation” Tommy said matter of factly, arms crossed over his chest as he steps further into her path.

“The last person I owe anything to is you Thomas James Oliver! Now move” She’s glaring up at him, hands on her hips as she considers just teleporting to get around him.

“I’m not moving until you talk to us Kim” Tommy is insistent now, rage filling him as she claims he’s the last person she owes anything to. After everything that happened between them, after what she had done to him with the letter? He wanted to scream or maybe just lay down and sob for a while. She was still everything to him, even after she had torn his heart to shreds and handed it back to him. He had spent years trying to deny that fact but seeing her standing there, looking not a day older than twenty two and more beautiful than she had any right to, it just wasn’t worth trying to pretend to himself anymore.

“Move Tommy or I will move you and I swear to the Power this fight will not go like they used to.” Her feet grind down, ready to lash out at him. Kim wonders absently if he’s thinking about how their one on one training used to end when they were in high school. Even when they trained at the youth center it always ended up with them back at one of their houses, normally Kim’s because her mother was never home, half naked and making out like the teenagers they were. It didn’t go any farther until the start of junior year and after that the sparring was basically just extended foreplay. 

“Dragon come on.” It’s Trini that uses the endearment with a hand on his shoulder, one Tommy hadn’t heard in a very long time. Once the nicknames based around his white ranger powers came about, their tendency to call him by the mythical beast that had been the symbol of his green ranger powers had fallen out of use. “We’ll all have plenty of time to talk.” she assures him

Tommy nods but there’s still fire in his eyes. “Try not to run off again before we leave.” He snaps, ignoring the double yellow ranger glare he picks up for the comment 

Kim snorts but shoots her friend an appreciative smile. “No reason to. You can’t send any letters in space Oliver!” Kim shouts as she walks out of the room, not bothering to turn around and look at the shocked faces her comment has left behind. 

The eleven of them stare at the spot their pink ranger had been in for a long time, stunned into silence. It was a callous thing to say, even if Tommy’s comment had been a low blow. Billy watches Tommy while the rest still stare at the door. The long haired man physically flinched when the comment first came from the slight pink ranger and now he looked like he could crumble at any moment. There was that unaccustomed anger from before again, thinking about all the times he had seen his friend like this; so near to breaking that it seemed he was holding himself together by sheer force of will. He would never understand why Kim seemed so insistent on breaking Tommy’s heart and what he had ever done to make her think he deserved it. 

  
  
  
  


##  **Galactic Council Outpost Ship 4 Zeta Echo, Kimberly’s Bedroom**

Kimberly collapsed onto her bed, wishing this day had all been a terrible dream. None of the ill conceived ideas she had about seeing her old team had ever been so spectacularly bad. She hadn’t even really had time to think about it, busy with the actual paper work that came along with giving Doverian command and taking what was basically a very extended leave of absence. But once everything had slowed down and she was having dinner with her team, it hit her like a ton of bricks that she would be spending and indefinite amount of time with people who would fight her every step. Who would demand answers and explanations she didn’t want to give. And she would have to face that fact the more time she spent around Tommy, the harder it would be to rationalize not letting him within ten feet of her heart again. 

She had wanted to strangle him this afternoon. And maybe had so many witnesses not been in the room she just might have. He sure had an awful lot of nerve, talking to her like she had been the one to do something wrong. Rolling over, Kim reached under the bed for the box that she kept there, dropping it on the bed and opening the top. She pulled out her old communicator, sure that it was probably something the team was going to insist on to communicate with. The old photos she left inside the box, deciding that particular part of memory lane wasn’t where she wanted to go. Kim finally found what she was looking for at the very bottom of the box, tears pricking her eyes at just the sight of the innocent white envelope. She pulled out the contents, always surprised that it wasn’t more battered than she expected. It still hurt to read the words of the break up letter Tommy had sent her, with all of its reasons why they just would never be again; that they were just growing too far apart. That he needed someone who understood how the changing of villains and powers felt, and who hadn’t left for something so trivial. That he had begun to fall head over heels for Kat and he would always love Kim, just like a beloved little sister. 

She hadn’t talked about it with any of the others about it, they were barely talking as it was anyways when she had gotten the letter. And only Trini had ever called to check on her, to see how she was doing in the face of the break up. She had flatly told her best friend she didn’t want to talk about it and made an excuse to get off the phone. maybe it had been a respect thing born out of teenage minds, trying to make sure that it didn’t tear the group of them apart. It didn’t make it hurt any less. Jason had taken weeks to convince her to come along on the trip back to Angel Grove and Kim in equal parts wished she hadn’t and was glad for it. Seeing Tommy and Kat together was hell, it tore her apart at her very soul, but everything that happened on that island had given her the push to get back into being a ranger. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANNDDDDDD here's the reveal! 
> 
> I'm considering putting up a tumblr page for inspo, playlists and even some edits for this story.


	7. River Lea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to Phadeos goes interestingly for everyone. Our heroes get a history lesson and Tommy realizes something isn't right with his best bro.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bear to write and not just because the powers scene got rewritten like four times. I'm pretty sure this is one of the longest chapter of the story so far and I'm really excited to get into the interactions of the rangers.

_ “Hermes gazed up at the stars. 'My dear young cousin, if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it. It doesn't matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don't appreciate your genius for inventing the Internet--” -  _ **_Rick Riordan_ **

  
  


“Oh good, they were able to get you all packs in time.” Kim commented as she entered the teleportation room the next morning. There’s a multicolored line of what looked like tactical backpacks. Her eyes rolled as she spotted her bag at the end of the line, along with the box she had asked for, more beaten up than the others and the colors inverted from the last time she had taken it so that it was now a deep pink color accented in black. She could see the Alpha team’s fingerprints all over that. She felt a little better after a good long sleep, a little less like killing all of them was a viable option. After some time to think it all through, she realized that once they had saved the universe, she could go back to her life and they could go back to theirs. She wasn’t eighteen years old, she knew that disappearing without a word hadn’t been the right thing to do, but all of the people surrounding her had also let her go. With the technology at their fingertips they could have cast a net out as wide as a few solar systems. And with the other rangers they could have found her easily enough. So she could smile her way through this trip, do her job and go back to her life. 

“Not that I don’t love the well stocked gear bags but the last trip was only a few hours, these have us packed like we’ll be gone for days.” Aisha comments, looking at her with a curious gaze

“We like to be prepared. There’s no telling what will happen and I’d rather we all have them than not.” Kim shrugs, walking over to scoop up her bag and make sure it wasn’t missing anything. 

“Phadeos is where you guys got the ninja powers originally isn’t it?” Katherine wonders, not directing her question at any one of the six in particular.

“Yeah it was. Dulcea connected us to the ninja spirits the first time, then we had to trek through the sacred jungle to actually reach the full power. I’m pretty sure the Crane powers only worked out of desperation. I assume the process is going to be similar this time around.” Kim looks at the blonde woman with an unreadable expression, trying not to show any of the distaste she had for her. It was nowhere near the australian’s fault that Tommy had broken up with Kim or that he immediately chased after her. Kim was well aware that it was childish of her to hold her accountable to it, but she figured she was allowed just a little bit of childishness. 

“Is everyone ready and accounted for?” Tommy asks, picking up the only white bag of the bunch, smiling a little when he notices it’s got a colored symbol for each of the powers he’s held.

“Just one thing before we go.” Kim says, earning an annoyed huff from her ex boyfriend. She rolled her eyes again and then opened the box, handing them out as she began talking. “These are dual purpose communicators and teleporters. They’re modified from the standard issue version Council sanctioned rangers are given and I’ve had them encoded with clearance codes equal to mine. They’re double encrypted to your individual DNA and Morphin signatures. The communicator has three functions, a one to one signal that will connect you to either just one of us or the main control room on this ship, a close loop function that will contact all twelve of us at once and then what’s essentially a panic button mode. It will send your coordinates to the loop, the main control room on all outpost ships, Andros’s personal communications line and the main communications hub for the Morphin Council. Telaporter works similar to the way ours used to, just let the guys up here know where you want to go and they punch the coordinates in. That second button is another panic button. Press it and it will automatically send you right back to this room. The packs also have a homing telaporter, so if for some reason we have to drop them and run, we can call them to us.” She finishes her explanation with a cheeky smile and presses on the correct button, disappearing in a crackling column of pink light. Being surrounded by the color has her torn between nostalgia of playing ‘race you there’ with her old team, Tommy especially and sadness that her time as the black ranger was officially over. She had found herself again as the black ranger, become a leader and better fighter wearing that color. There was a silly sense of trepidation that going back to being the pink ranger would rob her of all the strides she had taken. 

Dulcea is waiting when the pink light fades from around her, the blonde woman studying her intensely. “Have the others decided not to come?” She questions, head tilting

“They’ll be along. I wasn’t really looking for the big group arrival.” Kim shrugs, deciding that pulling up the wall she had built for herself was going to be the best way to deal with this

“Do you remember what I told you?” Dulcea asks, eyes looking at the sky as she notices the colored streaked

“I don’t need anyone else to soar. Stop looking at me as if I’m going to turn out the way your pink ranger did.” Kim knows it’s an unfair thing to say to the woman, but she isn’t willing to listen to platitudes that tell her she needs anyone else to be strong again. 

Duclea shakes her head, thinking not for the first time that it isn’t Alosia Kimberly reminds her of at all, but her pig headed fiancé. 

By the time the other lights have faded, Kim’s pack has been dropped next to where she’s standing in front of the altar. 

“It is good to see you, old friends and new.” Dulcea’s smile was a mile wide now as she took in the eleven people in front of her.

“This place is beautiful.” Tanya comments, looking around in awe. The others had told her stories about Phadeos but to see it in person was a whole different experience all together. 

“We are a dwindling number but those of us that are still here do what we can to keep the ruins of the temple in the best condition possible.” Dulcea explains as she leads them into the space that used to house the Altar of the Ancient Ninjette. The fire in the remnants of the altar is burning brightly even in the middle of the day. 

“Dulcea if we were supposed to have these powers all along, why were we able to  lose them in the first place?” Billy questions as he stands next to Kimberly with Adam on her other side

“When you first came to Phadeos it was just the six of you and you were desperate. The connection to your animal spirits was easy enough and I know that had any of you tried to connect to them, your spirits would have reached back. The power that you sought and gained was only a fraction of the true power. It could not be fully granted as your team was not fully together. Had you not lost the power as you thought of it, you would not have gained the teammates you did and you would not have moved forward enough to be strong enough to come back here together.” Dulcea waited until all of them were circled around the altar, noting to herself that the six original ninja rangers had ordered themselves in the exact same way as when they had first come here.

“We’ll have to go through the jungle again?” Adam guessed, gulping ever so slightly.

“Yes Adam. It is only once you reach the Monolith together that you will be able to claim the full power. You will encounter challenges on your journey but they will not be the same as before. Now close your eyes and look deep inside you.” Dulcea watches, waiting for a moment as each begins to even out their breathing. Her hand reaches into the depression in the pedestal next to her and picks up a fistful of the glittering dust, blowing it into the direction of the flames and watching as the heat dances and jumps, obscuring the twelve adults for a few moments. When she can see them again, there are twelve Ninjettes standing before her. Along with the six baring new colors, the suits have changed. Where the gauntlets and bracers once matched the rangers color and was accented with gold, now the colors were reversed. The gauntlets were a bright gold and studded with decoration of the rangers colors, and the white sashes that belted the suits were now gold. All except for Jason, whose were silver to offset his golden suit. Dulcea gives them a few moments to reoriented the sleeves, watching in awe as they studied the coins, the changes to the suits and removed the hoods and masks.

“For the six of you who originally used the power, your animal spirits have not changed. You will always be the Falcon, the Crane, the Wolf, the Bear, the Frog and the Ape. And though you have grown as people, the traits that marked your connection to your animal spirits have not. Do not fear them, they are always what has made you strong.” Dulcea picked up her staff and walked to the first of Zordon’s chosen rangers.

“It makes sense now, why I could use the Gold Zeo powers and Billy couldn’t.” Jason says as she stands before him

“An astute observation. The Lion is the master of all land before him. Noble and brave Jason, you will be served well.” She smiles at him, head inclining when Jason places both hands together and bows to her. 

Dulcea moves one to her left and stops in front of the silver clad Trini. She looks from the woman to Jason and back again, as if understanding something just by looking at them. “The Lion has chosen a worthy partner. You are wise, intuitive and calm, Trini. The Owl could not have chosen better.” the shorter woman goes near to blushing but it’s hidden by her mask

Kathrine looks decidedly uncomfortable when Dulcea stops in front of her, the aqua dressed blonde fidgeting. “You feel as though you will have problems with these powers as you did with the Crane?” She questioned, her head tilted thoughtfully

Katherine tries desperately to look anywhere but over at any of the others. She had never told them. “It always felt like it was fighting me. Like it didn’t want me,” 

“These powers were not meant to be shared, Katherine. They are not like the others, you could not share them just as you could not share your heart with one of the others. Katherine you were not meant for wings. You are the Cheetah; swift and passionate.” Katherine lifts up her head, taking in a deep breath.

“Thank you for that.” Katherine’s words are barely a murmur

Dulcea nods and moves on, standing in front of Zach who was grinning from ear to ear. “Ever one to blend into any environment seamlessly Zachary, you are the Chameleon; adaptable and persistent.” 

Tanya reaches out to grasp her boyfriend's hand and squeeze it before Duclea stops in front of her, the green clad woman grinning as she observes the purple and orange hands squeezing. “An interesting pairing. Though you left it behind, you can not shake the lesson you learned from your home. Bold and protective Tanya, you are the Scorpion.”

The master warrior comes finally to the last of Zordon’s chosen rangers, dressed in navy. “I am unsurprised to find that you and Billy share similar animals and colors. More lighthearted you are the Coyote, playful and inventive.” Justin looked like Christmas had come early, eyes drifting over to Adam who was smiling brightly at the younger man.

“Thank you for your help Dulcea. Would it be alright if we spent some time here, to gather ourselves and get ready for the journey?” Tommy asked as Duclea stepped away from Justin

“Whenever you need sanctuary, this temple will be here to give it to you. I will leave you to your preparations.” She was gone in a blink, leaving the twelve rangers standing in the silence of the temple.

“What now Tommy?” Katherine asked, looking at her ex-boyfriend and their defacto leader.

“I’d like to get a few rounds of sparring in. This power is different than anything I’ve ever felt. I want to try and get used to it before we head into an unknown.” Jason spoke from where he was standing, knowing that his best friend was likely to go along with what he wanted. They had come a long way since their days as teenagers unable to work together. They were a seamless duo on a battlefield, able to work together and split the leadership role they had both been given by Zordon. 

“Alright anyone who wants to spar meet by the alcove. At least two of us should go through the packs and check inventory so we have an idea.” Tommy looks over at Kim, as if he’s expecting her to choose that option instead. She rolls her eyes and walks over to the spot he had mentioned they’re going to use as a sparring ring, stretching out in the center of it. 

“Aisha is going to go through some of the abilities with me and Tanya since neither of us are used to it.” Trini says, looking up from where she had been talking to the yellow and purple Rangers

“Adam and I will do inventory, I studied these powers a lot when I was helping Tommy create the Dino Morphers.” Justin offers, not wanting to get in the middle of whatever shit show was about to happen within the sparring group.

Jason and Tommy nod in sync, the groups splitting off to do their own separate tasks.

“So something tells me Pinkie isn’t moving from being first.” Zach comments, eyes focusing on the pink clad woman who is stretching herself into a back walkover. 

“I’ll do it.” Jason doesn’t give anyone room to argue as his long strides put him closer to Kim. The shorter woman pops up, looking amused when she sees the gold clad man coming toward her. “You sure you wanna do this Jase? I don’t know if you’ve got fire like that.” Her tone is mocking, hand on her hip.

“You’re good Kim, but I’m not the same fourteen year old who was scared to do anything but pull my punches with my little sister.” Jason rolls his shoulders.

Kim cracks her knuckles and reminds him. “A lot has changed.” 

“Not that much.” he counters, waiting for her to make the first move.

“Ninjette The Crane!” She calls, reactivating her powers.

Jason follows suit feeling the power thrum through him. Kim doesn’t move from her spot, watching the man she used to consider an older brother. She hasn’t even dropped into a defensive stance and the gold Ranger thinks that Kim could only look more bored if she was looking at her nails. He smirked behind his mask noting that for all the way she said things had changed she still opened with the same moves. Kim had spent all of their early ranger training by starting looking like she couldn’t be less interested. Once he finally came at her, she would open by kicking out at him. There’s nothing terrible at playing along so Jason kicks and then spins into a tornado kick, finding that instead of landing on his feet as expected, he’s on his back with the pink clad woman popping up from the sweep she had used to take his legs out from under him. Kim wasted no time, her leg slamming down to hit his stomach. A hit that Jason just barely rolls away from, kipping himself up and putting his hands up defensively. His opponent comes at him with a barrage of attacks that keep him on the defensive. Everytime he goes to attack, Kim has a defense already planned.

“You haven’t changed up your style much. Been what, at least ten years since that dumbass red only mission right? Have you trained at all with anyone who isn’t this group?” She’s standing across from him, arms crossed over her chest.

“Are we not up to your intergalactic standards anymore more Kim?” He sneered, anger bubbling under his skin.

“Not if this is what you fight like.” She throws her body backwards, the point of her foot catching him beneath the chin and sending him flying backwards. In a flash step she’s on him, a blur of pink that he throws out a desperate kick at, to put some distance between. She growls behind her mask and then again all he sees is a pink blur, gloved hand reaching out to grab her in an attempt to get her slowed down but he comes away with nothing but fabric. He lets out a growl of his own, tossing aside the pink fabric and deciding that it was time to switch tactics. 

He had come to the army knowing how to fight intergalactic monsters but they had taught him a whole different way to approach his fighting. Grapples, pressure points and a dirtier base to his fighting. Jason lunges out, tackling Kim to the ground and placing his forearm over her neck. 

“Yield.” He commands her, thinking that there’s no way she can manage to get out of this.

“No imagination Rex.” Kim taunts, disappearing into the ground and popping back up behind him, her foot suddenly on the back of his neck “Yield!”

Jason had never been the best at keeping his temper all the way in check, especially not when it came to sparring with his teammates. Since the Maligore incident he had needed to learn how to control not only his temper but the left over enhanced strength. Maybe it was the way she deemed him and by extension their team less than. Maybe it was the way she kept herself distant and aloof, like they had deserved for her to abandon them. Maybe it was just his ego getting bruised by being so soundly beaten by her, but the first of Zordon’s Chosen let go of the chain holding back all that rage. He twisted slightly, grabbing her ankle and using the enhanced strength to toss her to the ground, satisfied when she took a moment to struggle to get back up. When she does get to her feet the two of them both go on the attack; trading blows with a vicious ferocity that has the others starting to worry. 

“That’s enough Kim!” Tommy yelled, moving to step between them. Jason had been thrown to the ground by her using the laser strikes they were capable of and that was the last straw for the white Ranger.

“It’s enough when I say it’s enough.” She sneered, kicking Tommy in the stomach to move him out of her way. Tommy stumbles backwards, unsettled by the matching looks he sees in their eyes as they come to the middle again. He’ll never forget it as long as he lives, the way the pair of them had looked after coming out of the volcano, it haunts the most severe of his nightmares. 

Trini comes running over from where she and the other two women had been practicing, looking up at him with a concerned expression. 

“Jason Lee Scott!” The ebony haired woman yells, drawing her husband’s attention. “That’s enough.” She instructs, tone holding back her tightly held rage. 

Jason looks for a second like he’s going to ignore her completely, his head shaking and holding up his hands “I yield.” he tells their pink ranger, who halts at the words. 

“Why don’t we get everyone together and get going.” Tommy suggests, eyes shooting concerned glances at his best friend. 

“I’ll go round everyone up.” Kim offers, stepping away from the surrounding rangers gaping at her. 

“Jase.” Tommy calls, jerking his head over to the alcove behind where they had been fighting. The gold ranger jogs over after dropping a kiss on his wife's cheek. “What’s up bro?”

“You okay? The end there, you looked like you went somewhere else.” Tommy puts a comforting hand on the man who is for all intensive purposes, his brother, shoulder. 

“Yeah I mean, I don’t know. There’s this zone sometimes. It started during that first deployment you know? Think it’s some kind of hangover from the whole Child of Maligore business.” Jason shrugs it off

Tommy groans, wanting to scream instead because this is the kind of shit they’re supposed to tell each other, dammit! The white clad man rubs his forehead. Sometimes he really wished Jason and Connor weren’t so similar. “We’ll have Billy and Justin check you two out once we’re done here.” 

“We’re ready to go guys!” Rocky shouts, drawing the two over to where the group is standing, most with their packs secured onto their backs.

“You’re not going to leave without saying hello, are you now Pink Ranger? That’s just bad form.” Kim pivots and drops into a defensive stance, her bag falling from where it was on her arm, confusing the others around her. “You again.” She sneers. 

“Do you know me now Kimberly?” Zedd taunts, a boyish grin splitting his face. 

“Don’t know who you are kid, but we don’t have time to chat with anymore of Kimmie’s new friends.” Jason quips, eyeing the boy confused.

“Now now Jason you can’t really think I’m just going to let you all run off and get the one thing that can defeat me are you?” He wonders, the Staff of Zedd appearing in his hand out of thin air

“This is the new Zedd? He’s just a kid!” Rocky protests

Zedd doesn’t say anything, just shakes his head and slams the staff against the ground. Tengu appears, looking meaner and more fierce than even the ones Kim fought in Angel Grove. 

“Go!” Dulcea commands as she materializes in front of the group, arm thrusting out in the direction of the ledge that overlooked the jungle. “He can not follow you into the Sacred Jungle.” The Master Warrior turned, her staff already split into two pieces and ready to fight

“No we can’t leave you.” Kim protested, feet setting in a fighting stance. Even Dulcea, for all her fighting prowess, would be unable to hold off all of these adversaries on her own.

“My time has passed, Kimberly. You and your team must make it to the Monolith and claim your power. I will hold them off, you must go.” Dulcea looks imploringly at her, kicking out at one of the Tengu that charges towards them.    
“Firebird, come on!” It’s Jason whose hand is tugging on the pink fabric of her uniform, his pack and hers thrown over his shoulder. 

“I’m so sorry.” the pink Ranger apologizes, looking at her one last time before turning and running towards the ledge, a sickening laugh and the sound of a choked off scream stopping her in her tracks just before she’s about to launch herself off. 

Kimberly turns over her shoulder, catching sight of white and yellow fabric out of the corner of her eye as she does. Time seems to slow and it feels like she is a teenager once again, watching the zords come apart at their seams. The spear tipped edge of the Staff of Zedd is protruding from Duclea’s chest, covered in deep red blood. A scream lets out of her throat, body starting to dive forward, every instinct in her screaming to stay and fight only to be stopped by strong hands wrapped around her biceps. 

“Kim there’s nothing we can do.” Billy’s voice reminds her from her other side. 

“We can’t just leave her! We have to do something!” She protests, pulling against the arms holding her

“We are. We’re doing what she told us. Now jump!” As much as she may want to punch him in his stupidly good looking face, Tommy had never led her wrong on a battlefield. Kim nodded, pulled her arms from their grasp and jumped backwards, twisting gracefully through the air to land on her feet. 

“Run, as far into the jungle as you can!” She shouts at the others, looking up one more time before she pulls her pack from Jason’s arm and takes off running, joining the blurs of color ahead of her. 

They run for what seems like hours until they’re in the deepest part of the jungle. Though it had been morning when they left the ship, it had been mid afternoon when they arrived on the planet, and now the sun was starting to get lower in the sky. 

“Let’s make camp, we could all use some rest and some food.” Billy suggests, hands resting on his knees.

“There’s tent’s in the packs, we only got halfway through inventorying before all hell broke loose” Justin informs them.

“There’s one in every pack. I wasn’t sure.” Kim starts, dropping her pack where she’s standing 

“You don’t know enough about our lives to know if any of us are sleeping together.” Jason snaps, glaring at her fiercely.

Kimberly let’s out a frustrated noise and pulls open her pack, holding up the round object and pressing the two side buttons on it and tossing it to the ground, a pink tent popping out of it fully set up. “There’s a firestarter kit in the bags and we should have enough food, coffee and water between the ration packs for two weeks.”

“Hey Kim.” Justin calls, drawing the attention of the slight woman. It’s well past dark now and they’ve got a fire roaring in the center of the semicircle of tents that have been set up. Adam, Rocky and Zack had found some logs to set around it for makeshift seats. Kim had powered down with the rest of them and changed out of the uniform she had left the ship in, leaving herself in a dark pink tank top. “What’s that symbol stand for? It’s all over everything; both your uniforms, your tent and pack.” He pointed to the golden sunburst crest that was plastered on the side of her tent. She sighed heavily, pulled an old AG High hoodie out of her bag and sat on one of the rocks closer to the group.

“It’s the crest of the Royal House of Eltar.” She told them softly.

“Why is it your personal badge?” Adam questioned, remembering the acidic shut down the Captain that replaced her as black ranger had given them.

Kim looks slightly confused, training her gaze on Billy. “You haven’t told them?”

“Told them what?” Billy looked just as confused, brow raised at her.

Kim sighed again, rubbing her forehead. “How much do you know about who Zordon was before he was well, Zordon?” She questions, wishing not for the first time since this day started that she had something to drink.

“Not much. It was..he had been kidnapped by Dark Specter by the time I was fully healed and then he was gone. I know that he was a ranger but not much else.” now the blue ranger shrugs at her, wondering what this has to do with the crest.

“Before he was Zordon the way we all know him, he was Zordon of Eltar, oldest son of King Zeltron and Queen Marskaha. He was betrothed to the younger princess from Phadeos.” 

“So what happened that caused Rita to put him in a tube?” Rocky wonders, now looking intensely at the pink ranger.

“The Power happened of course. Zordon led a team of rangers, things went pear shaped and he ended up in an interdimensional trap. What was left of his team scattered to different places, mostly for safety from my understanding. They left all but the green power coin with him to one day be passed on.” Kim bites her lip, waiting for the next round of questions

“Do you know who else was part of his team?” for the first time Jason’s tone isn’t filled with anger. 

“Yeah, and so do you guys. We know all the players for this specific tragedy and trust me once you figure it out you feel pretty damn dumb for not knowning.” Kim smiled just a little

“Ninjor, he was their blue wasn’t he?” Billy guesses, remembering how Zordon had explained that he had been responsible for the creation of the power coins.

“He was. After what happened to Zordon, who had been their white ranger and leader, Ninjor was afraid of exactly what happened with Zedd happening, since there was a large enough group of people who knew he had been the ones to essentially create his team's powers. He went into hiding at the temple and gave Zordon the map to find him just in case.” Kimberly had never been more grateful for that decision, as Ninjor had been the one to disentangle her lifeforce from her power coin when it was stolen. 

“Dulcea and Dimitria were the pink and yellow right?” Aisha questioned, thinking of the concern the Master Warrior had shown when they mentioned something happened to Zordon and the fact the woman from Inquiris had come to help after Zordon’s departure.

“Right people, wrong colors Mamma Bear.” Kim risks using the nickname, hoping that the other woman will see it as her attempt at reaching out. “Dulcea was the team's green ranger and Dimitria was the black ranger.”

“Wait so if Dulcea was the green ranger, how did Rita end up with the coin that she gave me?” Tommy’s looking at her with that inquisitive gaze her always used to get before he went off on a binge of research to answer his question.

“And now we have arrived at the tragedy. Their red ranger was Zordon’s youngest sibling, his brother Zandred. Their pink was Zordon’s fiance and soulmate, Dulcea’s younger sister Aloisa. And their yellow was Desma, Dimitria’s twin sister. Zandred was interested in anything he could get his hands on when it came to history and legend about the Power. Desma was kidnapped by a group of space pirates. She didn’t have her morpher or her coin and when she was turned evil, it severed her connection to the yellow coin. We all knew her better as Divatox. Aloisa, even though she had been raised by the warrior culture of Phadeos, she was more interested in the magic of the Grid. Somehow she attracted the attention of Master Vile and he turned her into Rita with some serious brainwashing. I don’t know how the others ended up with the pink coin, especially not since she made sure to get away with at least one.” Kim looks around the fire, wondering if maybe telling this story wasn’t a good idea in the first place. Maybe she should have just cut to the important parts of why she used the crest as a personal badge.

“She tricked her sister, pretending she was still Aloisa?” Kat wonders, thinking of the plan Rita had given her

“If it had only been that kind.” Kim snorts, standing up now to try and get a little more room to breath. “Rita as she was now showed up and out and out fought her sister. The fight ended up leading them into the temple and since she couldn’t beat Dulcea in a fight, she got close enough and ripped the coin out of her morpher. Their powers, they were connected even more tightly to their lifeforce than ours were. The Power back lashed out and leveled the temple, but it also saved her life.”

“Context clues say that Zordon’s brother turned out to be our Zedd.” Jason looks like he’s going to be sick and Kim wants to reach out and hug him

“Zandred is the real life curiosity that killed the cat. Like I said he was incredibly interested in the history and legends of The Power. He had been reading about the Cult of Zedd for a long time and was tempted by the power he had read about. Like Rita I have no idea how they got the red coin from him, but he became Zedd and the rest is pretty much history.” Kim shrugs, hands running through her hair 

“That Zandred and the one from the meeting with the Morphin Council?” Trini trails off, eyes wide as saucers.

“Tiger Tiger burning bright and always right.. After the Z Wave, those three went back to being who they had been before. Aloisa became the Mystic Mother and for reasoning passing any understanding or interest of mine, they stayed married.” Again she goes back to when they were close as sisters, reaching out to her.

“Not that all of this wasn’t fascinating but what does it have to do with my original question?” Justin cuts in, Kim giving a small little start.

“Oh right shit sorry. Got a little off track. Like I mentioned the powers were tied into their life force and they gave them to Zordon to pass on. Zordon chose all of us. Because of that..the known universe basically considers us..well, his kids.” She rubs the back of her neck, sure she looks as awkward as she feels. 

“And you’re what..the new Queen of Eltar?” Zack is sneering again and Kim wonders how she never noticed before how good the orange ranger was at it.

“No they have one of those. Her name is Zelriana and she’s Zordon’s middle sibling. We’re considered royalty of the blood and the jury is out on if there would be support for one of us challenging her for the throne. Andros thinks if it was me, Tommy or Jason it might work. Kenale was firmly of the position that none of us would get very far.” 

“And Kenale would know.” Tommy sniped, remembering him introducing himself as the white ranger on Kim’s old team. 

“Considering he’s from Eltar yeah.” Kim stops pacing, rolling her eyes at her ex-boyfriend in the process and decides she’s had enough storytelling and team bonding for the night. “I’m going to sleep.” She declares, disappearing into her tent. 

“You just can’t help yourselves can you.” Aisha hisses, glaring at Tommy, Zack and Jason

“What did I do?” Jason protests, meeting the matching glare his wife is giving him

“We were finally getting somewhere.” Trini stands up in a huff, eyes locking onto the yellow tent Aisha had set up for herself. “Aisha can I bunk with you?” 

The yellow ranger nods, shooting Rocky a slightly apologetic look. “This is never going to work if you guys keep sniping at each other.” She reminds them.

‘Tell her that!” Jason doesn’t care that he sounds like a five year old, he knows he’s right.

The silver ranger sighs, shoving her hands into the pockets of the sweatshirt that had been in her pack. “She’s obviously got a reason for the way she’s acting and for the fact that she left. So let’s just...give her a chance to come to us about it instead of pushing her even farther away.”

Trini and Aisha disappear into their tent, leaving the weight of their words on the others. The others don’t spend much more time sitting around the fire, stacking it with a few more logs so it would burn through the night. 

Billy can’t imagine what good reason Kim would ever have for the things she’s done and the way she’s been acting since they got the band back together. She hadn’t even apologized to them! He can’t fathom why that means they should be considerate of her. He lays his head down and closes his eyes, trying his best to calm his breathing and let go of this perverse anger. He hates that he’s started to grow used to having it as company.

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing you notice in this chapter or any further on


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